The Wild Dovahkiin: Revised Edition
by Jyggilag
Summary: Ok, here am I uploading this story again after having been forced to change its format. After an accident with the Namban Mirror, Ranma, Mousse & Ryoga found themselves stranded in the land of Skyrim. What kind of adventures will the trio experience while on this land? And will Tamriel be able to survive the chaos these 3 idiots will unleash? Mild-foul language warning.


**Author's note: **Ok, here I go again. Finally I deemed myself to upload this story again to comply with this site regulations. It kinda pissed me off that it was brought down but whatever; I've worked it out and changed its format to a more regular one.

Again I reiterate this story is not a serious work, either in its argument or as a literary piece of work in general. It's just made for the Lulz and as an outlet for those stupid ideas me and my brother come up with in our downtime. Since this is not a serious work, I don't put much effort in its writing so its quality is more simple and brief than what people are accostumed from my other more serious works.

Anyhow this story is back in case someone wishes to read this piece of crap again for a laugh or two. Updates of this story will be sporadic, depending how quickly my brother Farcochat, e-mails me the drafts of each chapter

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Ranma ½ belongs to Rumiko Takashi, The Elders Scrolls V: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda.

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 1<strong>

**WHERE IN EUROPE ARE WE NOW?**

**OR**

**THE DRAGON CHOSEN**

It was early morning in the City/District of Nerima on the Prefecture/State of Tokio, Japan. On a certain Martial Arts dojo, a young practitioner of the Anything Goes, Saotome branch was just about to begin with his day.

"(Yawn) …mmm… What time is it? Let see… 6 o´clock? I think this would be a perfect time to go out for a morning walk without having to worry about bumping with the district's pests" Ranma said groggily through his stupor. He then leaves his room, and after washing up and dressing for the day, he goes down to the dojo entrance. Kasumi was already down there, doing her morning chores like the dilligent housekeeper she was. She greeted Ranma with a smile.

"Oh? Good morning Ranma, are you going out?"

"Yes Kasumi, I'm going to…"

Ranma has no chance to finish his statement as he is suddenly attacked by a giant panda coming out of nowhere.

"Ack! Knock it off Pops! Is too early for you to be bothering me!"

The panda then pulls out a wooden sign out of nowhere that says 'Boy! You already know that is never too early for training.'

Ranma has enough of this silliness and beats Genma on panda form. He then dusts his hands off after pummeling his father on the ground. "Stop bothering me already, Pops! I'm going out."

Genma pulls another sign to ask. 'Where are you going this early, son?'

Ranma answers non-chalantly "I'm going for a walk, because if I try later I'm sure to run in with Ryoga or Mousse or Kuno or the 3 at the same time or the fiancees or all of them at once! And right now, I'm not in the mood to be dealing with them. Bye."

Kasumi opens the front door for Ranma and gives her pleasant farewell to the martial artist. "Have a pleasant walk, Ranma. Make sure to be back before breakfast."

The pig-tailed martial artist replies with a nod. "Sure, Kasumi."

Ranma then leaves the Tendo dojo and begins with his morning walk. After a while, he reaches the park.

While taking the scenery he thinks for himself '_Ah, what a beautiful morning there's today. The good thing about early morning walks is that I don't have to worry about getting on a fight. Not that I have a problem with fighting, but having to fight everyday with the same people and for the most useless of reasons, tends to lose its appeal real fast. Lucky for me this day has begun pretty well._'

RANMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

A couple of voices scream at the distance.

"Dammit! Just my luck! Ryoga, Mousse, What the hell you 2 want?" Ranma curses and turns towards his two rivals who suddenly appear with a trail of dust behind them.

Ryoga points at him with a finger. "Finally Ranma, today is the day! I'm going to make you pay for all the miseries you've caused me, and most important! For all the times you've been unfaithful to Akane. I'll finally be able to restore her honor once I have you beaten at my feet. Ha, Ha, Ha." He laughed with a slightly psycothic laugh as he imagined himself standing proudly atop a broken Ranma.

Ranma rolls his eyes at Ryoga. "On your dreams, P-chan. Besides, why you're always so insistent about Akane? Don't you have Akari already? She's much prettier than that clumsy ape and dosen't have a temper of a thousand hells either."

Ryoga gets mad at Ranma's rude comments about Akane "Shut up Ranma! I won't let you keep insulting Akane. Today is the day you die."

"Yes Ranma, prepare to die. We're going to defeat you in the name of Shampoo's honor." Mousse states pretty confident.

" And Akane's?"

"(Sigh) Yes Ryoga, hers too."

Ranma lets out a sigh of his own. "Stop nagging me; can't you see I'm not in the mood to be dealing with your pathetic attempts to get at me? I mean, do we really have to go through the same act every day. We already know I'm gonna win."

Ryoga & Mousse don't take kindly his comments and lunge at the pig-tailed martial artist in rage. "DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

The 2 attack Ranma in tandem. The pigtailed martial artist blocks a swing from a katana that Mousse pulled out from his robes with 2 fingers. "You're gonna need something better than that to defeat me, Donald." He tells to his rival mockingly.

Mousse grunts at him in anger. "Shut up and die, Ranma!"

Ranma rolls his eyes again at his rivals' insistence. "Yes, scream all you want. Screaming is the only thing you can do since you're too weak to defeat me."

"Aaargh! Shut up already!"

They keep fighting, destroying everything on their path until they reach the magic shop where kuno bought the Phoenix egg. Ranma is sent inside through a wall by one of Ryoga's punches. He falls on top a variety of stored items.

" Oooof! That hurt! Man, Ryoga must have gone on another training trip again. Hey, what's this? It's a broken mirror held together by duct tape. Looks familiar, where have I seen it before?" Ranma says while inspecting the item lying close to him.

Ryoga yells from outside the store in his search for our favorite aqua-transsexual "Ranma, you coward! Stop hiding in there and come out to take your beating like a man!"

Ranma ignores him and keeps with his musings "Ah! I remember now. It's that magical mirror that the old leech (Happosai) stoled from the amazons and used to send us back in time. What was its name? The Namban Mirror, I believe? Yes that's it!"

Ryoga and Mousse enter the store in search of the pigtailed martial artist. It is Ryoga who spots him first. "There you are coward, now die!"

Then both attack Ranma at the same time.

"No! Wait a minute, you morons." Ranma raises the mirror in front of him to defend himself. When Ryoga and Mousse attacks connect with the surface of the mirror, a white light burst from its surface that covers all theirs surroundings with a blinding intensity. When the light dissapears, there's no sign left of Ranma, Ryoga, Mousse or the Namban mirror.

-Time skip-

Ranma and the others awake on an unknown forest.

"Acht! Where the hell are we?" Mousse asks looking at their surroundings in confusion.

"Looks like a forest to me." Ranma replies pretty unconcerned

Mousse reacts negatively at that comment "Yes I can see that! What I mean is how we got inside a forest, since one second we where on Nerima and on the next we where here?" He spats back, gesturing at their snowy surroundings.

Ryoga doesn't waste time to blame Ranma for their troubles. "It has to be Ranma's fault. He must have used that mirror to send us in here."

" Mirror? What mirror?" Asks Mousse in surprise.

Ryoga points at the broken remains of the Namban mirror "That mirror over there. I saw a strange light coming out of that mirror when Ranma tried to use it against us. It's his fault we got stuck in here."

"My fault? It is the fault of you 2 idiots. I told ya' to stop on your attack P-chan, but as usual, you were too deaf to listen to me."

"Don't try to pin this on us, Ranma. You're the one who tried to use that mirror as a shield."

"Maybe, but it was your attack that activated it."

"Shut up Ranma! It was your fault."

Mousse ignored the two squabbling morons and kneeled to inspect the remains of the Namban Mirror, but their bickering quickly enough shattered his patience. "Shut up both of you! As much as I would like to see Ranma trashed, first we have to discover where we are?"

"I hate to admit it, but Donald Duck is right." Ranma acknowledges. "We have to find out where we are and find a way to get back to Nerima."

"We can't use the mirror for that. It got broke on a hundred pieces during the transition to this place." Mousse says, adjusting his glasses. "I'll pick the pieces and storage them in one of my hidden weapons caches to see if we can find a way to fix it later in case we can't find a way back through normal means." He advises rather sensible.

Ryoga lets out a tired sigh "Fine, we will try to find out where we are first. But don't think for a second this is over between us, Ranma."

"Whatever you say P-chan. Look! You can see over there at the distance some kind of town with stone walls." Says Ranma, pointing out at the distance.

Mousse snaps his head back at Ranma, surprised by that observation "Stone walls? Where are we, England?"

"I don't know. But maybe they have a phone in there, wouldn't hurt to go and take a look." Ranma supplies as a course of action. The trio walks towards the town and pass under its big wooden doors.

"How odd is everyone dressed." Ranma comments after seeing the way people is dressed in this place.

"Maybe we arrived during a medieval fare or something?" Mousse says with a shrug.

"I hope they have food, I'm hungry." Ryoga says, his stomach grumbling in agreement.

Ranma is of the same opinion as Ryoga. "Yeah, me too. But we should first find someone to tell us where we are and if they have a phone. Let's ask that guy over there."

They approach one of the local town guards.

"Eh! S'cuse me."

The guard turns at Ranma with slight suspicion. "Who are you people?"

"Errr, Hi!" Ranma greets as casual as possible. "You see, thanks to these 2 animals behind me (Hey! Who you're calling an animal!?) We ended up getting lost. So I would like to ask you if you can tell us where we are. "

The guard nods in agreement. "Of course, you are currently inside the town of Helgen."

"Helgen? Where's that?" Mousse asks, never having heard that name before.

"In which district is that?" Ryoga inquires on his own.

The guard puzzles briefly at their regional designations "District? You mean hold? Forget about it, I don't care how you outsiders call your holds. Helgen is located inside the hold of Falkreath."

"Falkreek? I've never heard of a district with that name." Ranma says in confusion.

"Not Falkreek, Falkreath." The guard admonishes.

"That's what I said, Falkreech."

"No, Falkreath."

"Yes, just like that; Fallcreed."

The guard becomes exasperated at Ranma's inability to pronounce a single word properly "No it's not, I tell you! It's Falkreath. Repeat after me, Fal…"

"Fal…"

"Kre…"

"Kre…"

"Ath…"

"Ath…"

"Falkreath."

"Falkreath." Ranma finally manages to speak the name correctly.

The guard beams, satisfied. "Exactly! Falkreath."

"Falkreath. Well, whatever. It dosen't matter, still dosen't change the fact that I've never heard of a place named like that. In which country it is?" Ranma says, dismissively.

The guard is shocked by that question. "How can you not know in which country you are now? We are in the great nation of Skyrim." Declares the guard proudly.

Ryoga shakes his head sideways at the unfamiliar name. "Never heard of a country named Skyrim." He states with honest ignorance.

Ranma can't help but to pipe in, mockingly. "Well that dosen't really comes as a surprise. You flunked geography, remember?"

Ryoga is outraged at that. "Hey! You're not doing better than me on school either."

"At least I go to school, unlike others who can't walk to the corner of the street without getting lost."

Mousse has enough of their antics and makes it known. "Shut up both of you, already! Maybe we are in a country of Europe or something?"

"Europe!" Ranma & Ryoga both say in surprise at the same time.

"Yes, Europe." Mousse states. "We don't' know much about Europe, so it is possible that there's a country in there named Skyrim, which would explain the way this town looks like."

Ryoga adress back to the guard. "Oh, Ok! Well, can you tell us where we can take a train to Japan?"

The guard is puzzled by that question. "Train? What's that?"

"Yes, train." Ryoga confirms. "You know, a big transport composed of metal wagons pulled by a locomotive that moves over metal rails that takes you from one city to another."

The guard ponders over that information for a moment. "…mmm… I've never heard of such a construct before. But it sounds to me as some kind of dwemer invention."

Ranma is caught off guard by that statement. "How can't you not know what a train is? Wait a minute!" He takes a moment to think. "I don't see any phone lines or electric poles either. In fact, I can't see any kind of modern technology anywhere which can only mean one thing… We are in an Amish community!" He declares with outmost certainty.

"Amish?" Mousse questions, unconvinced.

"Yeah, Amish. I saw them once on TV." Ranma points out. "They live on small towns away from any major city. They don't like technology very much so they live without it."

Ryoga thinks about it for a moment. "You know that has a lot of sense."

Ranma turns back to the guard. "Thanks for your help, we'll be going now."

The guard thinks the 3 of them are nothing but a bunch of idiots, but he dosen't mention it. "With pleasure, you may enter the town if you like and find an inn to rest. Or you can try one of the stores to buy a map so you can try to get back to your strange lands."

"Thanks! We appreciate it very much. Let's go you 2." Ranma commands to his companions.

+After entering the town+

"You know Ryoga, even if that man knew what a train was, it still wouldn't have helped us much since there's no train that can take us from Europe to Japan since Japan is in another continent and over the sea." Ranma says, making fun of the pig-cursed martial artist.

Ryoga is embarassed by that comment and lashes back in turn. "Shut up, Ranma! I knew that! I just wanted to know if he knew it."

"Yes, because you're such the smart one." Mousse says derisively.

"Shut up you too, Mousse! At least Akane treats me nice and not like a piece of crap."

That statement really left Mousse rather dumbfounded, I mean what was the relevance of that info for their current situation?

"What is that have to do with anything?" Mousse asks confused.

Ryoga replies rather cheekily "That Shampoo treats you worse than Herpes, and dosen't want even a picture of you to be near her."

Mousse gets pissed and throws a dagger to Ryoga that miss its mark… espectacularly and ends up injuring the guard they just left behind by striking him right in the knee.

"AAAARRRGH! By the eight! What foulness is this?! Who's the madman that's throwing daggers at people's knees! AAAH! WHY!? AAAH! I'm never going to be able to walk straight again."

Mousse ignores the screams of agony from the guard and keeps facing Ryoga "Don't speak badly of my Shampoo or…"

"Or what?"

Ranma has enough of their bickering. "Shut up you 2. Look!"

"What?!" The 2 rivals see Ranma pointing at a line of bound people waiting to be executed, one has already been killed and another is already waiting for the axeman's weapon to fall on his neck.

Ranma is visibly shaken by that scene. "What the hell? They're going to kill those people! We have to stop them."

"Why?" Mousse asks, uncaringly.

"Because they're going to kill them!" Ranma replies with alarm.

"So?"

"It is a martial artist duty to help those who cannot defend themselves! So on my martial artist honor, I have to help them." Ranma recites as if it were obvious.

"Do whatever you want! Just don't expect me to get involved." Mousse says in a fit.

Ryoga pushes Mousse forward from behind, ready to drag him on if needed.

"We'll help you, Ranma."

"Ok, let's go and speak with that people." Ranma commands, pointing to what he supposes are the people in charge.

The group approaches the line of prisioners, the officer in charge of the executions –A woman in steel roman-style armor- tries to stop them. She pulls out her sword when she sees them aproaching.

"You there, stop! To what bussiness you dare to approach the prisioners?"

Ranma points back, undeterred. "Hey you! What do you think you're doing? Why are you going to kill this people for?"

The Legate Rikke is stumped by that question. "What do you mean why? Because they're nothing more but rebel trash."

"Have you even put them through a trial first?" Ranma inquires, decisively. "Has a jury already sentenced them to death? You can't carry the death penalty unless it's already been decided by a grand jury after a lengthy and thorough judicial process."

The Legate is confused by all that legal babble. "Judicial Process? What in the name of Akatosh are you talking about? Hold on a second! You 2 look pretty suspicious to me. On which side are you on?" She inquires with high suspicion.

"Side?" Ranma replies compleately oblivious to her meaning.

"Yes, side. Are you with the great empire of Tamriel, or are you with the rebellious stormcloaks scum led by Ulfric." Legate Rikke inquires rather forcefully.

Ranma just scratches his head in hopeless ignorance. "Well, I know nothing about an empire."

Legate Rikke is shocked by that answer, how could it be that he dosen't know of the great empire that encroaches (or at least used to, damned Thalmor) the entire continent. "What? How can you know nothing of the great empire of Tamriel governed by the great emperor Titus Medes II?"

Ryoga is caught off guard by that last piece of info that he believes to be incorrect. "Titus Medes? That's not the name of the emperor. The name of the emperor is Akihito."

Mousse punches Ryoga in the face for his stupidity.

"Don't be an idiot Ryoga. Of course, the name of their emperor is different. We are in Europe not in Japan!" He states exasperatly.

"I knew that!"

"Well in any case…" Ranma pressed on, ignoring his rivals. "I didn't vote for any of those emperors, but if I had to vote for any of the 2… Well I wouldn't vote at all. Voting is boring and all the politicians are the same, nothing but a band of liars and thieves that steal from the hard-working people. If I were a politician, I wouldn't lie in order to steal from the citizens; I would steal from them in plain sight and in broad daylight. And I wouldn't stab anyone in the back either; I would just punch them in the face upfront."

Legate Rikke can't react in any other way at that statement except with a total WTF face. "What?"

Ranma dismiss his latest ramblings unconcerned. "Oh? Nevermind, I was just wondering. In any case, we are here to demand this people to be set free."

Legate Rikke is immediately suspicios of that demand. "Set free? Are you spies for the stormcloaks?"

Ranma is surprised by her acussation. "Spies!? Oh no! I couldn't be a spy, well… not unless I had a wristwatch that spews laser rays and other gizmos like James Bond. I would also have to wear a Tux all the time; I'aint too fond of that one, though I can't deny that I look good on a Tux. Maybe if I had all of these things I could pull off the spy thing. I'm pretty sneaky if I said so myself and I still got those Yama-Sen-Ken and Umi-Sen-Ken techniques that my Pops developed in his youth. But anyway, I'm getting off tracks again. Back on topic, we want you to let these people go, because killing is bad and all that."

Legate Rikke superior, General Tullius makes act of prescence and approaches his subordinate to inquire about the delay on the executions.

"Legate!" He barks, authoritatively.

The legate stands on attention immediately after hearing the voice of his superior. "Yes, General!"

"Tell me why are the executions been delayed, and who are these people?" he demands in a no-nonsense voice.

"Sir; these 3 are spies sent by the stormcloaks to free their leader Ulfric." Rikke says, pointing at Ranma and the others.

"Spies?" Tullius remarks in surprise.

"We already told you we're not spies." Ranma replies back annoyed.

One of the soldiers that are guarding the prisioners points at something.

"General! One of the prisioners is trying to escape."

Everybody turns to look at the prisioner that was previosly down on his knees on the spot to receive the executioner's axe, trying to get away by walking slowly in a crouched position. He stands frozen like a deer caught in the headlights when he finds out he's been discovered. He's promptly cut down on the spot by another of the soldiers.

"NO PLEASE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Blegh….."

General Tullius just simply stands there unimpresed and irritated. "Legate! Get rid of this stormcloak scum."

"Yes General! Men! Kill the spies!"

In less than a second, Ranma closes the distance between him and Rikke and punches the Legate right in the kidney. The armor buckles; unable to stop the hit and the armored woman falls out for the count.

"That we are not spies, goddammit! How many times must I repeat myself?" Ranma declares, fed-up already of being wrongfully acussed.

Legate Rikke can't do anything to reply and simply stays curled in the ground and grunting in pain.

"Nnnnnnnnnnnngh!"

The rest of the soldiers don't take kindly to one of their officers being knocked down.

"We are under attack!"

"Kill the spies!"

Ranma, Ryoga and Mousse then begin to kick the crap out of the entire platoon of soldiers.

"Ranma, you said we were just only going to talk to them." Ryoga says while casually bumps the heads of 2 soldiers together.

At the same time, Ranma is punching a soldier in the Adam's apple while kicking another in the chin. "And we did… until they stopped listening and attacked us."

"Well I really don't mind very much. This guys a pretty weak." Ryoga replies, unconcerned. He then breaks the sword of an attacking soldier with only 1 finger.

Panic is starting to take hold of General Tullius after seeing all his troops getting the crap kicked out of them by only 3 men, he begins to issue more frantic orders for his soldiers to stop these unexpected juggernauts. "Kill those spies already! Quickly!"

One of the prisioners begins to cheer for Ranma and his friends, a blonde Nord whose name is Ralof. "That's it! Kill those imperial dogs!"

Ranma is scandalized by that statement and briefly stops from fighting the imperial soldiers. "Kill?! We're not killing nobody! We're just knocking them out. Watch…"

The pigtailed martial artist then approaches a downed soldier lying on the floor and gently (in Ranma's perspective) kicks him on the ribs, causing him to shout in pain.

" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! My side! It hurts! By the Divines! I think my ribs are broken! The pain! WHY?! WHY?!" The soldier then starts to rave because of the pain.

"See, pretty much alive." Ranma says in a way-too-much-that-its-creepy happy tone. Another soldier then tries to attack him stealthily from behind while he's distracted, but Ranma turns around, punches him in the face and knocks him out.

"These people are pretty strong." Ralof murmurs to himslef, amazed at the strenght of their unexpected saviors.

Ryoga stops from punching people at random and stands still from a second, his attention elsewhere. "Ranma, do you hear that?" he calls to his sometimes friend and rival.

Ranma tries to hear what Ryoga is telling him about, but can't because of all the battle noise.

"HEY! SHUT UP ALL OF YOU!" He demands to all the people present.

Everybody shuts up and stops fighting. On the following silence a faint sound can be discerned.

**GGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!**

"What is that?" Ryoga asks, curious.

"I don't know, but my danger sense is tingling." Ranma replies, cautiously.

"What do you think it is?" Mousse inquires, interested like the others.

It's Ralof who replies. "I don't know."

After a few seconds without another of those grumbles everybody starts to relax again and prepares to resume the fighting. It's General Tullius who first speaks again. "Must have been nothing important; Alright men, kill the…"

His words are interrupted by an enormous wicked-looking black dragon that suddenly appears with a roar that echoes through the entire valley and then perches in the tower in front of them.

" What is that?" Ryoga asks with dread.

Ralof, Tullius, Ulfric (through his muffle) & several soldiers reply to him "Dra… Dra… Dra…"

It's Ranma who finishes the statement. "Dragon."

The dragon roars again and starts to speak in a weird unknown tongue. The creature takes flight and begins to breathe fire and burn everything in his path.

"What the hell?! A motherfucking dragon!" Mousse exclaims in shock.

Ryoga runs by him, flailing his arms everywhere and covered in flames. "I'm burning! I'm burning!"

"I'll handle it!" Ranma states decisively. He then kicks Ryoga in the gut and down into a mound of dirt, extinguishing the fire.

"There! You're welcome. You can thank me later. Now let's move we have a dragon to kill." Ranma states, off-handely.

Ryoga is left seething in the ground, his clothes and skin a bit crispy after being stinged by the flames "I hate you Ranma."

Ralof approaches them after taking care of his bindings. "What are you talking about? Killing a dragon? Don't be fools, we have to run. Follow me."

"But the dragon…" Ranma & Ryoga reply at the same time, trying to argue.

But Ralof has none of it and puts his foot down "FOLLOW ME! I tell you."

They follow the stormcloak and enter the tower where the dragon was previously perched at and barricade the door.

"So, you're one of those prisioners. What's your name?" Ranma asks to their impromptu guide.

"The name's Ralof. Nice meeting you friends, what about yours?"

"I'm Ranma and these 2 imbeciles behind me are Ryoga and Mousse."

Mousse feeling insulted argues back. "Who are you calling an imbecile, Ranma?"

Ralof ignores them and takes notice they're not the only ones inside the tower "My lord Ulfric, you're alive! Thank Talos the dragon didn't get you."

The trio of morons stops bickering and turn to see the leader of the stormcloaks now free.

"Not for a lack of trying from his part." The leader of the rebellion replies pretty non-chalantly.

Ralof finally lets the latest discovery set in and asks to his leader. "A dragon! Can the legends be true my Jarl?"

"Legends do not burn down villages." Replies Ulfric, rather somberly.

Ranma just waves their concern away. "Ah, don't sweat about it. It's not the first time me and my pals have to fight against a mythological creature. It happens to us so regularly that it has almost become routine. Last time something like this happened, I ended up fighting a Phoenix lord one on one with my fists until I ended blewing up an entire valley in the process too."

The stormcloaks present and Ulfric didn't know how to respond to that. The Jarl is particularly flabbergasted at that statement. "What?"

Ranma turns towards Ralof, ignoring the question. "Not to be rude or something, but we're in kind of a hurry. So thank you for your help Ralof, we'll be seeing you later." He then turns towards Ryoga and Mousse. "C'mon you 2 we have to keep moving! we can't let that overgrown lizard destroy this town. Let's go outside through the top of this tower."

Ralof tries to call back to them, but to no avail. "No, wait!"

The 3 climb the tower but then the dragon appears making a whole through the tower with his head and breathing fire inside.

"What the fuck?!" Ranma exclaims rather colorfully.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" followed by Ryoga.

"Take cover!" and finally by Mousse.

They wait for the dragon to pass by.

"Is it gone already?" Ryoga asks while cowering in a corner.

Ranma is the one who answers him. "Yes, c'mon we have to go."

Their path is blocked by rubble, however.

" Damn!" Ranma curses. "The path's blocked. Quickly let's jump to the roof of the next building through that hole the dragon made."

"You do realize that the next building is covered in flames right?" Mousse deadpans.

"So? It's not like the tower we're in is on any better shape. At least we'll be outside and have a fighting chance instead of being trapped in here like rats." Ranma retorts.

"Tsk; fine…" Mousse agrees, seemingly with no other choice.

They jump to the roof of the next building that was already half-destroyed and managed to miraclously traverse it without getting burned in the process. Once on the ground an imperial soldier saw them and spoke to them.

"You're the ones that were beating our troops!"

"Yes that's us." Ranma confirms withouth shame.

"What are you doing here out in the open? That dragon keeps making passes, burning anything in his way. We have to find shelter. Follow me."

"Hey! We're not going to retreat; we're going to fight that dragon." Ranma declares with the outmost confidence.

The soldier was unbelieving of his declaration, however. "Do what you want. But if you don't want to die by burning into a crisp you will follow me."

The soldier then leaves and goes on his way. In that moment the dragon makes another pass, releasing another stream of fire. The building behind them crumbles into a fiery heap; the trio is left staring at the burning remains.

"I say we follow that soldier." Mousse states bluntly.

"Me too." Ryoga agrees.

Ranma grimaced in resignation. "Tsk, fine! Hey, wait up!"

They followed the soldier, passing through the burning remains of buildings and the raging infernos that raged unchecked. Soldiers fought, screamed and died all around them. They managed to catch up with Hadvar and entered the barracks, closing the doors behind them.

Ranma was panting with his back on the door. "By the way the name's Ranma."

"Hadvar." The soldier replies in the same situation as him.

"Ryoga."

"Mousse"

A roar is heard and the entire structure starts to tremble.

"Now that the introductions are over, we should get moving." Hadvar says in urgency. "That dragon could break into this building at any time."

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Hold your horses, soldier." Ranma says, motioning for a time-off. "Give me a minute to think this through. Now, that was a real dragon that was destroying everything out there?"

Hadvar replies with a little suspicion. "Yes…"

"And he was killing everybody?" Ryoga says next.

"Yes…"

"And we did nothing to stop him or kill it?" Mousse finishes.

Hadvar began pretending not to be embarassed by that last statement. "Errrrrrr… Yes…"

Ranma, Ryoga & Mousse share a look and reply. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH US!"

"We should have killed it!" Ranma states with fury and shame intermixed.

Hadvar was alarmed by their declaration. "What? No! You did the right thing by following me. If you hadn't come with me, you would be dead right now. But no matter, we have to find a way to escape from here before the dragon destroys this building and bury us alive."

To make point to that statement, another rumble began to shake the building.

"Yeah you're right! We have to keep moving, right guys?" Ranma concedes and asks to his companions.

" Ok" Was Ryoga simple answer

" Yeah, whatever." Was Mousse reply.

Ranma tend turned towards Hadvar "Lead the way."

"Very well, follow me over here." The soldier motioned down a corridor.

They went deep into the barracks with Hadvar on the lead. After passing through several rooms, they find a group composed of 3 escaped stormcloak prisioners; Hadvar exorts them to fight against them. "Stormcloaks! Quickly! We must face them and stand our ground."

"Damn! Imperials!"

"Quickly! To arms! For Ulfric!"

"For Ulfric!"

Ranma tried to put the brakes on the situation before everything spiraled out of control. "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Now, wait a second. Why we must start fighting right now?"

Hadvar was left dumbfounded by his question. "What do you mean why? Because they're nothing more but a bunch of rebel scum."

"But you said so yourself, this place could come crashing down on top of our heads any minute now." Ranma points out, turning the soldier's words back at him. "We don't have time to be wasting on fighting. We have to work together if we want to come out of here alive."

The stormcloaks were not of the idea of working alongside their enemies and just crossed their arms in indignation "I refuse to work alongside an imperial boot-licker!"

"And I refuse to work alongside rebel trash." Hadvar spat back, defiantly.

Ranma was starting to get angry at their stuborness, however. "SHUT UP! I didn't ask any of you if you wanted to. I'M TELLING ALL OF YOU to do it. Do you understand?!" He punches a wall and cracks the stone with his fist bringing an entire section of it down. Everybody is scared shitless at Ranma's outburst and can only nod with their heads in acceptance.

"Ok, then let's start moving." Ranma finally says, putting and end to the conversation.

After walking for a while Ranma adressess the group.

"You know. I don't get it, why you guys try to kill each other?"

Hadvar raises an eyebrow at that inquiry. "Why? Are you asking us why whe fight?"

"Yes why?"

"I want to know too." Ryoga pipes in.

Hadvar complies and begins his tale. "Very well, I'll tell you. This bunch of beasts…" He Points at stormcloaks.

"Hey! What's wrong with you!?"

"Shut up! I'm not talking to you!" Hadvar spats in petty anger, he then turns back to Ranma. "Anyway, these animals follow the commands of Ulfric."

"And…? Did he do something or what?" Ranma asks pretty aloof.

Hadvar is left perplexed just for a moment before answering. "Did something? Oh! Nothing much, except just killing the high king of Skyrim in cold blood and instigate a rebellion."

"Really? That sounds bad." Ryoga says, making a great show of his amazing skill to grasp the obvious.

The Stormcloaks barge in the conversation, with the intention of giving their 2 cents. "Don't let yourselves be deceived by those lies! Ulfric didn't kill him in cold blood. He challenged the puppet-king Torygg to a duel to the death and he won."

"Well I've never think killing is a good thing." Ranma mentions carefreely. "But if he killed him during a duel I s'pose is fine. I mean what can you do about it? He won and his oponent lost… So why the rebellion?"

"Because since the empire signed that damn treaty with the elves at the end of the Great War 10 years ago." One of the stormcloaks answers. "The cursed Thalmor have been ruling ever since by forcing the spineless Emperor to bend to every single of their whims. They even decreed to ban our worship of mighty Talos, no true son of Skyrim would turn his back to their ancestors like the imperial dogs do."

Ranma, Ryoga & Mousse are left utterly flabbergasted and they all but scream. "ELVES?!"

"Yes! Blasted elves, especially the Thalmor, Oh! How I hate them for what they've done!" another stormcloak says in anger.

"What are you talking about?" Hadvar questions, appealed. "The Thalmor do not rule the empire. It's true they set heavy restrictions upon us since the end of the war because of the concordant. But the emperor still reigns supreme in the empire and is ever vigilant for any ploy that our enemies may try."

"In which fantasy world do you live?" replies the stromcloak with a coment that sounds oddly ironic for some reason. "Open your eyes and see the truth for what it is? We are slaves in all but name to the elves!"

Ranma still trying to wrap his mind around the subject says. "Wait, wait, wait… Elves?!"

"Yes, what about them?" Hadvar asks, pretty neutral.

"Elves? Guys dressed in green with pointy ears that live in the forest? Those elves?" Ranma questions in shock.

"Yes those elves. Except they don't wear much green but yellow unless they're Bosmer and the Thalmor all dress in black." A stormcloak answers, rambling a little.

Ranma, still flabbergasted, can only say. "But the elves don't exist! They're just myths from fantasy tales!"

The Stormcloak answers back with a huff. "How I would wish for the elves to be nothing but myths."

"Elves are real." Hadvar says as if it was obvious. "If not then, who by the ancestors, we fought against in the last war?"

Ranma is left without an answer for that and can only say "…Wait right here, just give us a minute." He grabs Ryoga and Mousse and takes them to speak on a corner. He then begins to speak with them among whispers.

"Guys, I don't think we are on Europe."

"And pray tell what makes you think that?" Mousse retorts sarcastically.

Sarcasm that is wasted in Ranma, who doesn't even notice it.

"Well let's see…

1.- There's not a single trace of modern technology.

2.- Everybody is carrying swords and bows like in the middle ages.

3.- We just saw a Dragon destroy a town.

4.- They speak of elves as if they were real."

"I think I'm starting to see your point." Ryoga says with complete honesty in his clueless face.

Ranma keeps speaking, unhindered. "So… Either, we are worse in our knowledge of Geography and Biology than what we previously thought and Europe is in fact a freaky weird country or…"

"Or…" Ryoga prompts.

"We are…"

"…In another world…" Mousse finishes.

…

…

…

"This is your fault Ranma…" Ryoga says accusingly.

"Ryoga; now's not the time for that."

Mousse doesn't see it that way, however. "No! Ryoga is right. This is the perfect time for that."

Theit little bickering is stopped by Hadvar calling to them "Hey, are you done? We have to keep moving."

"Yes, we're almost done." Ranma replies before turning back to the others. "Look, first we have to find a way out of here and then… well we'll see what we can do later, Ok?"

"Ok." The 2 rivals agree.

"But this is still your fault, Ranma!" Ryoga says, still being a pest.

Ranma blows him off and turns to leave "Oh, knock it off porkchops. We have to get out of here."

The group continues their trek until they find the dungeons of the keep. There they find a little skirmish between 4 imperials against 3 stormcloaks. Ranma rushes and gets in the middle.

"Hey, What the hell you're doing?! Don't waste your time fighting when there's a dragon about to kill us all if we don't get out of here!"

The combatants stop in confusion and stare at Ranma.

"Who in Oblivion are you?" asks one of the imperial soldiers.

Ranma materializes in front of his face, the tip of their noses touching and a dark aura surrounding him. _**"The one who's going to bust your face with his fist if you don't follow my orders; understand?" **_He says with a dark creepy voice that strikes down the mettle of even the bravest.

"Fine, I'll do what you want. I'll stop fighting, but I'm doing it on my own volition, not because you scared the milk out of me or because I wet myself." Replies the same soldier with a cracking voice.

"That's good enough for me. That goes for the rest of you too." Ranma replies pretty happy-go-lucky doing a 360 in his demeanor. "Now, let's get a move on, unless of course, you have an objection."

Everybody shake their heads no. Not willing to do something that might annoy the bi-polar martial artist.

"Very well, let's go then."

After walking for a little bit, Hadvar gets close to Ranma and addresses him. "I'm impressed at your skill to make men follow you Ranma. You would make a great captain in the Legions."

"Really?" Ranma replies rather surprised at that statement. "Nah… I think I don't have the talent to be anything above grunt."

"I'm serious. Look what you have acomplished, you've made every single man we met to respect and fight for you. Even the traitorous stormcloak scum follow your lead without question…" Hadvar leans to him and whispers "_Though it doesn't change the fact that they're still criminals._"

"Maybe… But, until we reach the exit they are friends and we'll treat them as such." Now is Ranma's turn to whisper conspirationally "_Do not worry, once we're outside you can arrest them again and take them to stand a fair trial for their crimes._"

"As you command maestre Ranma." Hadvar replies in acknowledgement before getting back on the line.

"Maestre? …mmm… Dosen't sound bad at all." Ranma says, thinking to himself.

They enter the caves underneath the barracks and find an underground stream. They find another engagement between 5 imperials and 5 stormcloaks.

"What are you guys doing fighting when there's a temporary truce?" Ranma yells in alarm, barging in the middle of the fighting.

All combatants stop when hearing the word truce.

"Truce? Since when?" One imperial asks.

"_**SINCE I SAID SO! ANY PROBLEM?" **_Ranma threatens, rather effectively.

"I wouldn't make him mad if I were you." One of the soldiers already following Ranma mentions.

The imperial that was inquiring sheathes his sword and stands down. "Tsk, fine."

"OK, then move on."

Everybody starts to move on further into the caves, following Ranma's lead. After a while, Ryoga comments. "I have to admit it Ranma, you're pretty good with words."

"Real good I say. He's a born leader."Hadvar says in agreement.

"He's just some nut-job." An imperial soldier mentions from the back of the line.

"If you keep being like that you're going to anger him." His partner says scoldingly.

"Hey! Are you talking about me back there?" Ranma calls suspiciously.

"NO! Not in the slightest." The soldiers reply, frantically moving their heads sideways.

"Ok, then keep moving."

One of the stormcloaks has enough of following Ranma's lead and starts lagging behind. "Hey, why must we keep listening to this fool? We would be better off on our own anyway!"

Another 2 of his companions join him.

"Yes, I grow restless for having to share and breathe the same air as those cursed imperial dogs. We should kill them all, I say."

"Yes, freedom for the real sons and daughters of Skyrim."

Ranma takes a casual look at them over his shoulders, not bothering to stop in his tracks "You shouldn't remain behind. This place could crumble down at any moment now. You better hurry up with the rest of the group."

"Never! We had enough of you." The first dissident stormcloak replies. "For this moment forward we will go in search of our own destiny by ourselves, but not before we make you pay for daring to…"

The entire cavern begins to tremble anew. The roof crumbles under its weight and buries the 3 dissident stormcloaks in an avalanche of rock and stone, much to the horror of the remaining survivors, and blocks the only way back without question.

"…mmm… Looks like we can only move forward from now on." Mousse comments non-chalantly

One of the Stormcloaks is left appealed after witnessing the demise of his companions. "By Talos! The roof collapsed on top of our brothers! They're dead!"

"And that is the reason why I told them to keep moving, they didn't and now they're buried under tons of rocks. If you people don't want to die, I suggest you start walking." Ranma says in an uncaring tone.

The Stormcloak takes a moment to think and weight his options "Yes… you're right. We should not linger."

The group keeps walking until they find a room covered from top to bottom in spiderwebs. There are big eggs of insects lining up and down the walls of the cavern.

"I think I stepped on something? Ugh, gross! What the hell is this?!" Ranma says taking a look at his sandals.

Ryoga also takes a look at Ranma's foot. "Looks like spiderweb to me, strange… This entire room is covered with them. How can there be so much… Yuck! Ranma! Don't clean your shoe on me!"

"Give me a break! This thing got stuck on my shoe and it dosen't want to come off."

"And why do you have to clean it off on my leg?"

"Because if I try to clean it off on Mousse's I could step by accident on one of his hidden weapons and prick myself with them or something. And… well I don't want that to happen to me. It's much safer if I clean myself on you." Ranma replies shamelessly.

Ryoga punches Ranma in the head.

"So you'll learn, Ranma."

"Ouch! That hurt P-chan!"

"That was the point!"

"Enough with the foolishness!" Mousse admonishes, having enough of their stupidities "We're about to get attacked."

Ranma and Ryoga turned and realized that the entire group is surrounded by spiders the size of a dog.

"Spiders?" Ranma inquires in surprise.

"Be careful! They are poisonous." Hadvar warns.

Ryoga takes a combat stance "Well… since there's no other way…"

Ranma replies already set for combat "Let's kill them!"

They engage the spiders in combat. Ranma, Ryoga and Mousse, having fought much stronger and dangerous enemies in the past have an easy time dealing with the spiders. The imperials and stormcloaks gather in groups and use their military training to their advantage, one unlucky Imperial runs out of luck and falls prey to the spider's venom.

Ranma squashes a spider with his feet, leaving a mess under his sandals "Goddamn Spiders! Because of them my shoes are now covered in goo. I'm never going to be able to get this thing out… This is hopeless, I need new shoes!"

"It seems the imperial that was killed by the spiders shares the same foot size as you." One of the stormcloaks points out.

"Really? Let's check that out." Ranma says going towards the body. He discards his shoes, loots the soldier's body from any valuables and dons the boots of the deadman.

"Hey, they fit me perfectly! Well, time to move on then." Ranma says, hopping in his place, trying the boots.

"Wait, maestre Ranma! Before we go, we should hold a minute of silence in remembrance of our fallen comrade." Hadvar says, diplomatically.

Ranma thinks about it for a moment. "Well, that sounds reasonable to me."

The Stormcloaks are affronted by that decision "Now wait a minute! Why didn't we held a minute of silence for my 3 brothers that died in the collapse too?"

"Well for starters… You didn't ask for it. Secondly, they died because they were being a bunch of pricks that didn't want to follow my instructions. This man however, died while carrying them through obidiently. He died with honor by giving his life for us to ensure that we could leave this place on one piece; unlike your brothers whose dead was plain pathetic and a total waste because it didn't helped us in the least. So shut up and keep silence for the dead guy." Ranma replies matter-of-factly.

The Stormcloak is left seething on his place "One day I will kill you and enjoy it really much…"

Ranma does not give a fuck, however. "And until then; shut up and keep it to yourself."

+One minute later+

"Well that's enough mourning, we must go." Ranma orders, getting everybody to move again.

"Very well." Hadvar replies, satisfied for having paid his respects to a fellow soldier.

"Move out, people." Ryoga says.

They keep going on their way until finding a bear in the middle of their path.

Damn! Is a bear, get down, quickly!" Hadvar calls with urgency. "Nobody make a noise. We should move quietly and quickly with our backs on the wall so he can't see us."

"Why?" Ryoga asks plainly.

Hadvar is left pretty dumbfounded by that response. "What do you mean why? Because is a bear!

"So? I have fought with many bears before; they're not the great thing. I'll handle this." Ryoga declares before going to face the bear alone.

"No maestre Ryoga! Wait!" Hadvar tries to top him to no avail.

"Do not worry. He'll be fine." Ranma says not worried in the least.

"How is he going to be fine? It's a bear!" One of the imperial soldiers asks, flummoxed.

"Just watch." Is Ranma only reply.

Ryoga stands in front of the bear.

"BEAR! Get out of my way!" He commands authoritatively.

The bear turns and glares at Ryoga with hate. "GGGGGGRRRRRROOOOOOOOWLLLLL!"

Ryoga growls back at him with a glare of his own. "Ggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrr!"

The bear gets scared and leaves, whining along the way.

Hadvar is left astonished at that display. "I can't believe that."

"He scared a bear by just looking at him!" One of the stormcloaks says in awe.

"And that's not even in the top 10 of strangest things I've seen him do." Ranma mentions pretty lively.

"You are a bunch of freaking weirdoes." Another stormcloak says from the back.

Ryoga goes back to the group. "Let's keep moving. I can smell fresh air already."

"Oh, alright." Hadvar agrees, deciding its better to let the matter drop.

They walk a little more and finally managed to find the exit from the cave, everybody gets outside.

"Finally!" a stormcloak exclaims.

"The exit!" an imperial soldier says next.

"Thank god!" Mousse blurts in weariness.

A mighty roar suddenly echoing through the valley cuts their celebration short.

"Dragon! Get down!" Hadvar warns in alarm.

Ranma takes an unconcerned glance at the dragon. "Him again? Hey!" Hadvar tackles Ranma from behind and keeps hims down.

"Keep down! Don't let him see you." A stormcloak advises from hiding.

The dragon, after a few sweeps, flies towards the horizon and disappears at the distance.

"Well, he's gone." Ranma says from his position.

"So it seems." Hadvar agrees.

Ranma gets back up again and dusts himself off, the others do the same. "Ok Hadvar, as I promised, here are your prisioners." He motions towards the stormcloaks.

Said rebels are left puzzled at that statement. " Prisioners? What are you…"

Ranma, Ryoga & Mousse knock out all the stormcloaks in the blink on an eye.

"Thanks, maestre Ranma." Says Hadvar with genuine gratitude.

Ranma dustes his hands off before, replying. "Think nothing of it. You can take them now to jail so that they may stand trial in front of a jury with all the weight of the law behind."

"As you say maestre Ranma. Men!" Hadvar says adressing the soldiers.

-Yes sir!-

"Take this rebel trash back to Solitude so that they may be trialed for their crimes. I would accompany you but first I must visit the neighboring towns and warn them about the dragon. I'll rejoin you once my task is done."

"Understood sir! Men move out!" Ordered one of the soldiers, taking command from Hadvar.

The Imperial soldiers bound the rebels and formed them in lines before going on their way.

"Well, seems this is where we say goodbye." Ranma says, beaming a smile

"Now what?" Asks Ryoga, plainly.

"Well, I have to go to Riverwood to warn them. But to repay your kindness in helping me and my fellow soldiers escape from Helgen, and for capturing those rebels. Let me invite you a good meal and if you wish, a place to rest too for a little while." Hadvar offers to the group.

Ryoga likes that idea. "Ah, that's good because we haven't even taken our breakfast yet… Ouch!"

Ranma elbows Ryoga in the gut. "What he means is that we would be honored to take your offer." Ranma re-phrases.

"That's great! Follow me then, I have an uncle that lives in Riverwood. I'm sure he and my aunt would be happy to receive us." Hadvar says, totally convinced.

"Riverwood? Where is that?" Mousse inquires.

"Ah! Riverwood is a nice little town on the shore of a river. It's a little to the North-East from our position like 30 minutes on foot." Hadvar replies happily.

"Well then let's keep moving. I would like to have a place where to sleep tonight with a roof over my head." Ranma says hopeful.

"This way if you please."

After walking for a few minutes, Ranma begins to inquire Hadvar about Skyrim. "Tell me Hadvar, what can you tell us about Skyrim?"

"…mmm… You're not from Skyrim I take it?" Says Hadvar half in thought.

"No, we aren't. Let's just say we don't leave home very much and we're doing pretty badly at school. So any information you can give us will be appreciated." Ranma says, vaguely.

"Of course my friend, what do you want to know?"

"Tell us about your country."

"Very well, Skyrim is a pretty big country composed mostly by snowy Mountains and frozen woods and valleys." Hadvar said, beginning his explanation. "Life in here is harsh and unforgiving because of the cold and because of the savage beasts and monsters that prowls the countryside. The current civil war that's presently going on also has a hand in making life in Skyrim a harsh thing, only the most strong and clever can survive in this place. But now with the Dragons reappearing after thought extinct for millenia, I'm sure things are about to get even worse for the country."

"In Helgen you were saying something about elves." Mousse mentions, discreetely.

"Yes, what do you want to know about them?"

"Why do you hate them so much?"

Hadvar becomes rather surprised by that question. "Don't you know anything about the Great War? It hasn't been that long since it was brought to an end."

"I told you we're doing pretty badly at school and also we almost never leave our house either. We've never seen anything in our lives like Elves or Dragons." Ranma says liying smoothly.

"Ah, Alright. You see, 10 years ago there was a terrible war between the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion led by the Thalmor." Hadvar explains.

"Who are the Thalmor?" Mousse asks.

"The Thalmor are the political party that currently rules over the Dominion. It is composed mainly of Altmer or high elves. They're a bunch of biggots who despice all races not elven, believing that only the elfs are the superior race and all other races should be enslaved under their rule." Hadvar says with clear venom in his voice.

"Those guys sound pretty nasty; I guess from now on I'll make sure to punch in the face anyone whose from their little group if I see them." Ranma says matter-of-factly.

Hadvar can't help but smirk at that. "I guess that's a fine attitude to have towards the elves. Anyway, The Empire managed to fight the Dominion to a standstill at the end of the war, but because of the heavy losses that both sides suffered during the conflict, they had no other choice but to sign a treaty to bring an end to the bloodshed. But the damn elves put heavy restrictions and conditions that the Empire, in its weakened state, had no choice but to accept and now the Thalmor oversee most of the actions taken by the empire with that Holier-than-thou attitude of them. Damn them! I wish we had the strenght to fight and rise against them, but… we can't in our current state and this civil war does nothing but weaken the empire further while our real enemies plot from the shadows."

"...mmm… that sounds bad. Seems the empire is in some pretty rough times." Ryoga says in thought.

"It is, but there's nothing we can't do and that's what makes things most frustrating." Says Hadvar quite irked.

Ranma ponders for a moment after listening to Hadvar's explanation. "Hey, you called those Thalmor 'High Elves' does that mean there's other kinds of elves?"

"You really don't go out much, do you?" Hadvar says, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, there are 4 main types of elves that everybody knows about. There's the Altmer or High elves that everybody hates nowadays because of the Thalmor. The Bosmer or wood elves whose skill with bows are exceptional and second to none but they're allies with the Thalmor too. The Dunmer or Dark elves, they are currently going through hard times since their country was destroyed when Red Mountain, the greatest volcano in the entire continent, erupted forcing them to leave their country of Morrowind, since most of them are refugees nowadays, everybody treats them as 2nd class citizens. And finally we have the Orsimer or Orcs great warriors who live in their mountain country of Orsinium and are loyal subjects to the empire."

"Orcs? Green guys all big and muscled, with tusks instead of teeths? Those orcs? How can they be elves?" Mousse asks pretty stumped.

"Aye, those orcs. They are a special strand of the elven race that evolved on a different path than the rest of the Mer races." Hadvar responds without a second thought.

"Must be like In the Lord of the Rings then." Says Ranma, mulling over the subject.

"Aren't there other kind of races?" Ryoga asks.

"Well there are the human races like us the Nords; we're a big hardy people because of our lives here in Skyrim. The imperials from Cyrodill, they excel more in diplomacy and commerce rather than the combat arts but their legions are well trained and equipped, and their knowledge of tactis is superb. Then there's the Redguards, The dark-skinned people from the desert, don't know much about them to tell the truth. And finally the Bretons from Highrock who's population is mostly composed of half-elves or humans with elven ancestry. There's also the Argonians or lizard-folk from Black Marsh and the Khajitt or cat-people from Elsewyr."

Ranma starts to panic at that last piece of info. "CAT-PEOPLE!" he exclaims rather nervous.

Hadvar was caught off guard at Ranma's reaction. "Yes… there are not many here in Skyrim, just a few traveling caravans here and there, but they are easily recognizible."

"CATS! I DON'T WANT TO MEET THEM!" Ranma says in panic.

"What is wrong maestre Ranma?" Hadvar asks, puzzled.

"Ignore him! He's afraid of cats." Mousse replies, uncaring.

"He's afraid of cats?!" Hadvar exclaims in surprise. "How can that be? Unless they're the big specimens like the sabertooth tiger, I can't see why he would be afraid of a little furry kitten."

"They're not just furry little kitten!" Ranma retorts in his panic, he begins seething in fear and hate. "They're whiskered furry demons that plan to end us all and take over the world! They inflitrate in our homes making us think they're nothing more than helpless cute little animals to deceive us in giving them our trust, but the moment we turn our back at them… WHAM! They stab you in the back!"

Hadvar only gives an odd look to Ranma, Ryoga turned and adressed him.

"And we are supposed to be the weird ones."

"Saotome's little mental episode aside, what can you tell us about the dragons?" Mousse says, getting back on topic.

"Well I don't know much about dragons, except what the legends tell us." Hadvar confessess truthfully. "Long ago during the mythical era, Skyrim was plagued by dragons from all sides. They were worse than the plague, Killing, destroying and eating everything in their path. Not even the combined effort of the armies of men and mer was able to repel them. Only with the help of 3 legendary dragonborns: great warriors, heroes and mages of old, was the threat posed by the dragons brought to an end and in the following centuries of continued dragonhunts were the dragons slayed into extinction."

"Mages?" Ranma asks in puzzlement.

"Indeed, Mages. I take it for your faces that you've never met a magic user before." Hadvar guesses.

"Mages? Real honest-to-god mages that wield magic and can launch fireballs and lighting from their hands. That kind of mages?" Ryoga says in astonishment.

"Aye, although the mages guild is no more, people still pursue magical endeavors through other means all over the empire. Here on Skyrim we still have one of the last magical institutions on the continent, the famous college of Winterhold."

Ryoga is left pretty excited at that news. "Can't believe it, there really exist mages that do magic like in videogames and movies. This is so cool."

"In case you haven't noticed yet." Mousse began with derision. "We are the living proof that magic does exist, what with our curses and all. And also, since you're too ignorant to realize things, we've been speaking in English instead of Japanese since we arrived in here. Most likely because of something that mirror did to us or because of this place seems to be surrounded by a lot of magic and fantastical creatures."

Ryoga only response was to scracht the tip of his nose with a perplexed look on his face." You know I hadn't really notice it before, but now that you mention it…"

"So anyone can learn magic?" Ranma asks, intrigued.

"Yes, magic can be learned by all with the disposition to delve in its studies. But the ability to perform spells is tightly bound to a person's magical reserves. High level spells require a great deal of magicka or magical energy to be casted, otherwise they couldn't be performed. You'll have to train and increase your magical reserves first in order to cast the more powerful spells that the schools of magic offer you." Hadvar explains.

"So I can only learn magic by going to this college?" Ranma inquires.

Hadvar shakes his head in disagreement. "No, many adventurers learn a great variety of spells on the road. They either find someone who can teach them or more commonly from buying books that impart the knowledge to those who posess them."

Ranma begins to day-dream about the possibilities. "Wow, Can you guys imagine what would be like if we were to learn magic?"

"We would be even stronger." Says Mousse in eagerness.

"We should go to that college and learn magic. Maybe even one of those mages would be able to rid us from our Jusenkyo curses." Ryoga states with exciment.

At that, the 3 martial arts begin to get all ecstatic at the hope to finally be able to find a cure.

"Sorry to pop your little dream bubble, but the mages of the College of Winterhold don't take just anyone." Hadvar interrupted. "Only those who show a great degree of magical affinity can be considered to be acepted into the College."

"Aw! I knew it was too good to be true. We are never going to get rid of our curses." Ranma replied pretty dejected.

Hadvar was mildly surprised by that declaration. "You have a curse? I don't know much about curses, but if you and your friends are under some kind of magical ailment you should find a healer or if you don't have the money, the altars dedicated to the 8 divines that are found inside their temples can cure any kind of curse if you offer a prayer to the gods in them."

"Really?! Just that easy! Where can we found one of those altars?" Ranma asks hopeful that thay still may have a chance for a cure.

"The closest I can think of is in the temple of Whiterun, the main city of this hold to which Riverwood owes fealty too. It's like an hour or 2 at walking distance to the north of Riverwood. You could decide to head there after you take some time to rest at my uncle's." Hadvar explains.

Ranma takes a moment to weight his options "…mmm… sounds like a plan. Anyway, you mentioned some dragonborn before, who's that?"

"Ah! Yes, the dragonborn." Hadvar began. "According to legends, the dragonborn was a mortal that was born with the soul of a dragon, he could devour the souls of any dragon he slayed and also speak and understand the language of the dragons or Thu'um."

Ryoga scratches his head in confusion. "What good it was for him to know the dragon language? Did he speak with them and convinced them to stop killing people or what?"

"You see maestre Ryoga, the dragon language is a very ancient and powerful tongue." Hadvar replies. "Its words are laced with a great deal of magical energies that when spoken release powerful magical effects. For example, that dragon that attacked us back in Helgen. You heard him making strange alien noises; that was the dragon language, he wasn't really breathing fire at us but speaking to us and his words then turned into fire."

Ryoga is perplexed at that "You're joking, right? How can words burn you?"

"It's true, I'm not lying."

"If what you say is true, then how can you learn the dragon languaje?" Ranma inquires.

"I only know that those who were Dragonborn were the only ones who could naturally speak the Thu'um. Other than that, the monastic order of the Greybeards are the only ones who can speak it. But for what I've heard it's really hard, almost impossible, to be acepted in their order. And then you'll have to spend the rest of your lives as part of the order to truly master the Thu'um! Most of the Greybeards are old men you see, though I heard the traitor Ulfric studied with the Greybeards at their mountain temple for almost a decade before leaving the order and then used what he had learned of the Thu'um to kill king Torygg in their duel."

Ranma ponders at that information. "It would be awesome to learn how to burn people just by speaking, but having to spend your whole life clustered inside a temple seems like a waste of time to me."

Hadvar chuckles at his reaction. "From the short time I've known you 3; I can tell you don't really need it. Anyway, it seems we're almost at riverwood."

They approach the small town through the main road and enter in it. Ryoga takes a moment to take on the sights "It looks pretty nice."

"Yes, is pretty calm." Ranma replies.

"That it is my friends. Come, my uncle Alvor is the town's blacksmith; we'll surely find him at his workshop. I hope you all have a healthy appetite; my aunt Sigrid cooks a terrific steak that would please the Emperor himself." Hadvar says with pride.

Ranma begins to salivate at the mention of food. "I want to taste it already!"

They find the blacksmith shop and see Hadvar's uncle working in the anvil.

"Uncle! It's me, Haldvar!"

The blacksmith lowers his hammer in surprise. "Hadvar! My boy, how have you been?!"

"Pretty well, uncle. These 3 are friends that saved my life. They are great warriors of great skills, unparalleled by none." Hadvar says, introducing the 3 martial artists to his uncle

"Any friend of Hadvar is a friend of mine. My name is Alvor what are your's friends?"

"Name's Ranma Saotome"

"Ryoga Hibiki"

"Mu Tzu"

"If you ever need to reinforce or repair your weapons and armors or make use of my workshop feel free to ask." Alvor says with real gratitude.

"Ah, thank you very much sir." Replies Ranma, a little embarassed.

"Please, just call me Alvor. We are among friends."

"As you wish."

Hadvar decided this was a good moment to reveal the true purpose of his visit. "Uncle, although I'm glad to have come visit, I'm afraid I'm not here on a social call."

"Has something happened, my boy?" Alvor asked in worry.

"Something terrible uncle, a dragon attack!" Hadvar said frantically.

Alvor was skeptical, however. "Dragons? You've been working too many hours under the sun, nephew. The dragons have been extinct for centuries."

"I'm serious uncle, Helgen is no more! A dragon appeared and destroyed the town. That's what I meant when I told you these 3 saved my life. They helped me to escape from that town, alongside others."

Those news worried Alvor greately. "If what you say is true, then we must ask for more guards to Whiterun. Riverwood dosen't have the defenses to stand against a dragon! Hadvar! You must go to Whiterun and speak with the Jarl."

"I would if I could, uncle. But I must return back to my unit after warning the nearby villages about the dragon." Said Hadvar, excusing himself.

"Then it seems we have no choice" Alvor said before turning towards Ranma. "I know we just met, but Hadvar seems to trust you. Can you do me a favor? Would you go to Whiterun and tell the Jarl to send reinforcements to Riverwood? The town would be really grateful if you did."

"Of course, you can't count on us. Helping those in need is the duty of a martial artist." Ranma said withouth hesitation. "Besides, we were going to head towards Whiterun anyway. We want to visit the altars to their gods that they have there. I'll make sure to pass your message to this Jarl, or whatever his name is, while we are there."

Alvor's wife, Sigrid, suddenly appears from inside the house where the workshop is set against.

"Beloved, dinner is almost ready. Hadvar! What a pleasant surprise! What brings you to Riverwood, dear nephew? And who are these people accompaning you?"

The group proceeds to tell Sigrid about the recent developments up until Ranma's willingness to go and speak with the Jarl.

"Those are some grave news, indeed. You and your friends are very kind to go see the Jarl on our behalf, not many would be willing to help a bunch of strangers they just have met." Says the woman, seriously.

Ranma couldn't help but be embarassed by her words and rubbed the back of his head. "It's nothing ma'm. It's a martial artist duty to help those in need after all."

Sigrid nodded at that "Ah! It is pretty upstanding that such powerful warriors, like you and your friends, have dedicated their lives to follow a code of honor."

"Yes, ma'm… Honor is a thing taken pretty seriously where we come from." Ranma replied still blushing.

"I understand. Come, I'm sure you 3 must be tired and hungry after your ordeal. You're welcome to stay and have dinner with us; I can even offer you a place to spend the night if you wish. You can set off towards Whiterun in the morning."

Ryoga was ecstatic by that offer. "Foooooood!"

Ranma elbows Ryoga to rein him in line. "Yes Ma'am. We'll be happy to acept you on your offer."

++The next day++

"Very well, we're off to Whiterun. Which direction must we take, anyways?" Ranma asks ready to leave.

"It is to the northeast of here; just follow the main road that goes out of Riverwood" Alvor says, pointing at the road. "And you should reach Whiterun without trouble."

"Thanks!" Ranma replies

Alvor gives him a nod in acknowledgement. "Remember! You must look for the Jarl once you reach Whiterun and inform him about the dragons so that he may send troops to Riverwood. We need those reinforcements."

"Don't worry; everything is going to be fine. I'm going to be leading the group personally." Ryoga declares non-chalantly.

Ranma is startled by that comment. "No! You're not P-chan! If we follow you, we are more than guaranteed to end up getting lost and I'm not about to be stumbling blindly through a foreign land because you're unable to walk in a straight line. I'll be leading the group, thank you very much."

Ryoga is irate at Ranma's brashness. "That's not true, Ranma!"

"Yes, it is."

"No, is not!"

Mousse fed-up with their anticts barges in. "Yes it is! Now both of you shut up so we can leave this place already!"

Ryouga only grumbles in response. "Grrrr…. How I hate you guys…"

"Well maestre Ranma, seems our paths diverge from here forward. It was an honor to meet you and your friends." Hadvar says, giving his farewells.

Ranma performs a bow in respect. "The honor was ours."

"May our paths cross again in the future, and under better circumstances."

"Yeah, I hope so. Well, we'll be on our way now. See ya' later." Ranma says, already leaving and waving goodbye.

"Safe travels, my friends." Alvar says, returning the wave.

"And good luck." Sigrud finishes with a smile.

The group walks until reaching the town exit and begin walking upon the main road towards Whiterun.

"Let's hurry up and finish this task soon so that we may begin looking for a way to get back home." Mousse says in a grouchy tone.

"Why so eager to get back so soon Mousse? The sights are pretty calm and gorgeous around here." Ranma inquires.

Ryoga turns at the pig-tailed martial artist with a face riddled with confusion. "Didn't they say that this country is filled with beasts and monsters and that's in the middle of a civil war too?"

Ranma justs shrugs withouth a care "Well, nothing is perfect. But at least this place looks much prettier than Nerima."

Ryoga ponders for a moment. "Well that's true; and also the air here is much cleaner too."

"I don't care about any of that!" Mousse exclaims exasperated. "I only want to get back to my precious Shampoo's side."

"Why? She hates your guts and treats you worse than a dog since you're too weak to defeat her in combat." Ranma points out.

"And yet, that's a thousand times much better than be trapped in this place with you 2!"

Ranma reply is once more a non-comital shrug. "Maybe, but you should look at the bright side."

"Bright side?! What bright side could this situation possibly have?" Mousse asks perplexed.

"Well, you do remember that they said there's real mages living in this place?" Ranma reminds the duck cursed weapon user.

"Yeah, so?"

"So… I suggest we should try to find one of these mages and ask them to teach us magic, maybe even one of them could help us with our curses in case the shrine thing dosen't work. And even if none of these plans help us in the end, this place is still plagued by lots of monsters, isn't it? Well, why don't we go and fight against the strongests and defeat them? We could pretend this situation is nothing more but a little training trip, just one without a clear date of return. But once we manage to get back, we would be much stronger than before and maybe you will at last be able to defeat Shampoo in combat and make her marry you."

Mousse is left deep in thinking after hearing Ranma's reasoning. "…mmm… Maybe you're right Saotome. Maybe we could get something good to come out of all this."

"See..."

"But that dosen't change the fact that I still hate you, and that I'm only following you so that I can become strong enough to marry my Shampoo." Mousse states pointedly.

"Yeah, me too!" Ryoga says, piping in. "Except the Shampoo thing, that is…"

Ranma just rolls his eyes at their empty threats. "Whatever…"

They keep walking until climbing on top of a hill; in front of them, the whole valley is displayed with a magnificent fortress-city lying right in the middle.

Ryoga lets out a whistle at the sight. "Wow… what a great valley."

Ranma elbows Mousse conspirationally. "Prettier than Jusenkyo; eh, Mousse…"

"I don't know; I seldom take notice of such things." Mousse replies in annoyance.

"This valley is just too big. Where do you think the city of Whiterun can be?" Ryoga asks.

"Oh? I don't know Ryoga. Maybe is that big walled city sitting in the middle of the valley?" Ranma replies sarcastically.

"You think?" Ryoga inquires, puzzled.

Ranma ponders his answer for a moment. "Well… maybe it isn't. We aren't from around these parts, after all. If it turns out that city is not Whiterun, we can always ask for directions."

They continue moving forward until reaching a series of farms at the shores of a river.

"Hey, what's that?" Mousse exclaims, pointing at the distance.

"A giant?!" Ryoga says in astonishment.

"So it is true that this world is filled with monsters and magic after all." Ranma comments in excitement.

"Looks like he's fighting some warriors." Mousse points out, gripping his glasses.

"They seem able to fight rather well. What should we do?" Ryoga says, asking for ideas.

Ranma thinks on how to proceed. "Well, I don't know. Though, I've always wanted to beat a giant to tell the truth."

"Well, then… let's go and help." Ryoga advises.

The trio sets off towards the battle. Meanwhile, with the band of warriors.

A ferocious warrior woman named Aela is seen notching an arrow "Vilkas! Quickly! Keep striking at his legs until he falls!"

A savage looking nord named Vilkas is seen evading a massive club. "That's what I'm trying, but he keeps swinging that club everytime I try. I can't get close enough."

"Farkas! Distract him! Make sure Vilkas can get close!" Aela orders to his other companion.

"On it!" Farkas, Vilkas twin brother says, before drawing the attention of the giant by waving his arms in air. "Hey, Ugly! Look at me! Yes, you! You're so damn fucking ugly not even your own mother would want you!"

The giant seems to understand the insult and starts to get pissed as result.

"Quickly, Vilkas! While he's distracted!" Aela orders over the noise.

"I know! DIE BEAST! TAKE THIS!" Vilkas prepares to launch a massive blow. That is until Ranma passes walking by, pretty casually, with Ryoga and Mousse trailing behind.

Farkas is perplexed at the sight of the 3 of them. "Uh? Who are those people?"

"You there!" Aela points at the trio with worry. "Get away from that monster! That's a very dangerous beast!"

"Yes I know; that's why I'm here in the first place." Ranma replies pretty relaxed.

"Don't try to play the hero boy." Vilkas remarks. "You'll only get yourself killed."

"Ha! I wish!" Ryoga mocks.

"Yes, I like you too Ryoga."

The giant has enough of the pests surrounding him and prepares to swing his club again.

"Watch out! He's going to attack again!" Aela screamed in alarm.

Ranma takes a combat stance and stares at the giant. "Now, I'm going to first try to gauge your strength through a series of weak attacks. Let's see how much you can take. Haaaaa!"

Ranma jumps 20 feet in the air and knees the giant right in the face. The giant swagers on his feet before falling like a log; face first, seemingly dead.

Ranma lets out a dissapointed whine at seeing the creature fall so easily. "Awww! Can't believe he's out already! It was only one hit! And I barely touched him!"

Vilkas can only stare with his mouth agape "In all my years… I've never seen someone jump 20 feet in the air, knee a giant in the face and kill him at the first hit…"

"What?!" Ranma turns at the Nord, puzzled. "He can't be dead, I barely grazed him! He must be faking it."

Farkas get's close to the giant and begins to poke him with his sword. "Well… I don't know your definition for barely grazing. But if that means cracking and caving his skull inside, then yes… You barely grazed him."

Ranma is surprised by that. "What? I cracked his skull? But I barely touched him…" He assumes a thinking pose to ponder. "Mmmph… he must have been pretty weak then."

Aela is astonished by that declaration. "For a person to come, kill a giant with a single kick and then say it was because he was weak... Then that person must be pretty strong indeed."

"Well, not to gloat or anything. But I am." Ranma replies cheekily.

Mousse can't help but facepalm at Ranma's arrogance. "There he goes! Again with his ego."

"You know, we could use a person of your abilities in the companions." Aela comments casually.

"Companions? Who are those?" Asks Ranma with interest.

Aela is surprised by his question. "You've never heard of the companions? We are very famous here on Skyrim."

"Well… We're not from Skyrim, you see." Ranma confesses.

"Ah! That explains your clothes." Farkas says as if realizing something.

Ryoga turns at him, mildly suspicious. "What about our clothes?"

"They're pretty strange to be outfits native of Skyrim." Farkas replies.

"Maybe… but you still haven't answered our question. Who are the companions?" Ranma says, getting back on topic.

"We are the most famous group of warriors and mercenaries in all of Skyrim." Aela declares, rather proudly. "Someone like you could fit well with us. You should join us, the pay is good and the food and ale are always in abundance."

Ryoga is salivating at the thought of that last part. "Foooooooooood!" He is then is bumped in the head promptly by Mousse.

Ranma thinks about the offer for a moment. "…mmm… We're gonna have to think that through. I'll tell you our answer later. By the way my name's Ranma."

"They call me Aela The Huntress and these are my brother's in arms" She gestures to her teammates "Farkas and Vilkas."

"At your service." Farkas says.

"Nice to meet you." Vilkas follows next.

"Hello there. By the way these 2 are Ryoga and Mousse, my rivals to the death." Ranma says pointing at his companions.

"Hi!" Ryoga greets with a wave.

Farkas is confused at the last bit. "If you're enemies to the death, why do you travel together?"

Mousse grumbles a little before answering. "Not by choice, that's for sure. The situation we are stuck with demands it. Besides… This way we end up getting stronger much faster, so we can have a better fight when the moment comes to do battle."

Aela nods in understanding "Ah! Glory in battle, I can understand that. Well if you wish to join our group, make sure to visit Jovaskarr to test your worth."

"Jovaskarr?" Ranma inquires, curious.

"Ah! It's true; I was forgetting you're not from around here." Aela points towards Whiterun. "Do you see that building over there? That's the place where the companions meet and dwell."

"Which one?" Says Ranma peering at the distance.

"That one on the base of the hill." Aela points out.

"The one that looks like a ship turned upside-down?"

Aela gives him a flat look. "Yes… The one that looks like a ship turned upside-down." She replies with heavy sarcasm.

"Why a ship turned upside down?" Ryoga asks clueless.

Aela is flummoxed by the sudden question and has trouble to come up with an answer. "Eh?... well… you see…"

"How did you manage to get a ship that big in here in the first place?" Ranma asks, puzzled. "I don't see any sea or ocean around these parts."

"Ah… you see, the original companions brought it here by dragging it down all the way from the ocean." Aela answers with a little relief.

Mousse frowns in disdain at her explanation. "It looks like a total waste of time and resources to me, to drag a ship who knows how many miles inland and place it on top of a construction as a mere decoration. Wouldn't had been best to just simply have come up with a better design for the building?"

Aela just got pissed at those comments. "STOP QUESTIONING THE SHIP! Anyway… since our task here is done, there's no reason for us to linger here anymore. Farkas! Vilkas! We go back to Jovaskarr. Thanks for your assistance and please make sure to consider our proposal. "

"Yeah, see you later. And yes we will consider your proposal seriously." Ranma replied non-chalantly.

"I hope so. We'll be seeing you, then." Aela replies before departing with her companions.

Ranma waves at the warrios goodbye. "Byyyyyyyyye!" He turns back to his 2 rivals. "Well guys, seems we have to get moving too."

The group keeps walking until reaching the entrance to the exterior stronghold that protects Whiterun's main gates. There on the side, a small caravan has taken camp. Ryoga and Mousse take notice of the particular individuals that compose said caravan.

"Hey, look at that." Ryoga says, pointing out.

"What?" Mousse asks vexed.

"There! On those tents."

"Let me see… Aren't those…?"

Ryoga beams a devilish smile. "Yesssssss! Those are the cat people that Hadvar was telling us about."

Ranma immedialty starts panicking at the mention of that word. "CATS!"

"Damn Ranma, this must be pretty hard for you. What with your fear of cats and all that." Ryoga says mockingly.

Ranma tries to act cool and reing in his fear withouth much success "Me!? Pfffttt! No! I'm not scared of any cat….."

Ryoga, feeling mischevous, takes another look at the cat-people. "Really!? Because I see like 20 cat people with furry ears and tails and look how their whiskers move!"

Ranma by this moment, was about to snap. "CAAAAATSSSSSS! NOOOOOOOOOOO! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Ryoga just laughs at his misfourtine. "Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! You're so patethic!"

"Enough Saotome! Snap out of it!" Mousse scolds in anger. "Remember that we have to get those guards for Riverwood. And also! Don't forget that Hadvar tolds us that here we would find some altars to pray at to get rid of our curses…"

Ranma tries to calm his nerves down. "Y… Yes, yes, you're right..tttt… If I want to get finally at last cured from my curse I need to go through this…. And we also must speak with the Jarl. Riverwood is counting on us to get them those guards…."

"Exactly! So you better get a hold of yourself, Saotome. And Hibiki! Stop bothering him until we get inside the city." Mousse ordered imperiously.

"Awwwww…. Alright…." Ryoga whined dejected.

"Ok Ranma, are you ready?" Mousse asks.

Ranma replies still a little frantic. "Y…Yeah…Yeah… Just… let me mentalize it first. Ufff…ufff… ufff… Ok, I'm ready!"

Ranma closes his eyes, puts his hands on his ears and starts walking in a fast pace while saying to himself… "There's no cats! There's no cats! There's no cats! There's no cats."

Ryoga unable to contain himself gets behind Ranma. "He,he,he…. MIAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

Ranma gets scared bat-shit crazy. "CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

The aqua-transexual ends up running the fuck off out of his mind; Ryoga is left laughing his ass off. The Khajitts take notice of the group's antics and are left with faces that clearly said WTF is going on?

"HA HA HA HA HA! I'll never get tired of this." Ryoga declared before being hit in the head by Mousse. "OUCH! What was that for!?"

"I told you to leave him alone, now c'mon; we have to catch up with him." Mousse said in a scolding tone.

"Fine… But don't tell me you didn't think it was funny."

"Maybe…" Mousse admitted reluctanctly.

"HA! I knew it."

The two go in search of Ranma and found him lying on the ground in a fetal pisition rocking back and forth while mumbling to himself a bunch of gibberish.

"Get up already! You idiot!" Mousse commands.

"Caaaaaaaaaaaaaatssss….." Ranma says with an addled mind.

"Yes cats, we leaved them behind already."

"CATS!"

"GET UP I TELL YOU!"

"Catsssssssssssss….."

Mousse gives up, utterly vexed. "This isn't working. Hibiki! Punch him."

Ryoga replies with a wide grin. "With pleasure!" He punches Ranma on the face and leaves him head buried inside a crater. "I'm pretty sure he snaps out of it after this, but if you wish I can give him another one."

"Yes, hit him again just to be sure." Mousse requests.

Ranma lets out a pitiful groan from inside the crater. "Ugggggggh….."

"Ok! Take this Ranma!"

Ranma snaps back up and evades Ryoga's punch and then retaliates with one of his own towards the pig cursed martial artist's face.

"OWWW!"

"Ah… Glad you are back with us Saotome, now maybe we can enter inside the city already." Mousse comments sarcastically.

Ranma lets out a sigh of relief now that he is away from the cat-people. "Oooofff! Ok… You know, I'm surprised you 2 didn't just leave me behind and went to look for that temple on your own."

"Well… The idea did cross my mind." Mousse admitts. "But then I realized if I stayed with only Hibiki as company, I'm just going to end up getting lost."

"Hey!"

Mousse ignores Ryoga outburst and presses on "And yes! I accept that I may have a slight problem with my vision which wouldn't allow me to diferentiate a temple from a… let's say…"

"A dog house?" Ranma supplies with jest.

" SHUT UP! Well… maybe… The point is, with you around we are sure to find the temple without straying." Mousse states.

Ranma stands firmly puffing his chest proudly at that declaration. "You're right! Without me, you 2 would end up dying of hunger."

"Don't push it!" Mousse warns.

"Fine, ok! Let's get inside the city, already." Ranma advises motioning towards the city entrance.

The trio walks towards Whiterun main gates. 2 guards are stationed in there protecting the entrtance to the city.

"Halt! What bussiness brings you into Whiterun!" One of the guards calls when it takes notice of the 3 martial artists.

Ranma turns towards his companions. "I'll deal with this, guys." He then faces the guard. "How's it going? We came all the way from Riverwood. We wish to speak with the Jarl."

"Is the Jarl expecting you?" The same guard inquires.

"Expecting us? Like, in an appointment? Errr… Not quite… we came here to see if he's available for visits." Ranma replies lamely, pressing his index fingers together.

"Sorry, but I can't let you in unless you're here on official bussiness to see the Jarl. So please, move along." The guard replies, gesturing them away.

Ranma whines childlisly at that. "Awww! C'mon! Let us in, is really important. Why don't you want to let us through?"

The guard is left dumbfounded momentarily by that question. "Why?... because there's been rumors of dragons as of late. And we are also in the middle of a civil war with the Jarl trying to keep Whiterun remaining neutral. Hard to do with spies, agents and troublemakers from both sides running everywhere. You 3 could be one of those since you look pretty suspicious to me." He says, narrowing his eyes and pointing a finger at Ranma.

Ranma gets irritated by those accusations. "Argh… Again with that spy thing! How many times must I say this! We are not spies!"

The guard starts going for his sword and gives a warning. "Stand back, citizen! Or else!"

" C'mon… let us in."

" NO!"

Ranma finally loses his patience. "Arrrrrrgh! That's it! Now I'm pissed!"

In less than a second, Ranma gets close and punches the guard in his helmeted face, knocking him out.

The second guard gives out the alarm after seeing his partner being attacked. "HELP! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! SPIES ARE TRYING TO ENTER THE CITY!"

"Shut up, already!" Ranma says annoyed, before sending the other guard to make company to his partner in LalaLand.

"Well that could have ended up better…" Mousse comments snidely.

"It's the fault of these people! They just don't listen!" Ranma replies exasperated, before he goes towards the doors and tries to open them.

"Mmmmph… They're closed… Ryoga! You know what to do."

"Yeah… Yeah… just stand aside… _**Bakusai Tenkestsu**_**!"**

The doors explode the moment Ryoga's finger gets in contact with them and a lot of bells start to chime loudly throughout the city.

"Well, we better start looking for that jarl." Ranma advises, looking around.

"Where could he be?" Ryoga asks cluelessly, scratching his head with a finger.

Before any plan could be laid up, the trio found themselves surrounded by guards from all sides.

- There they are!-

-The spies!-

-Bring them down!-

-Surrender or die!-

Ranma wasn't worried in the least and started doing a headcount of the opposition.

"Let's see… 1, 2…7…15…30…56…72…. 72 against 3, that's not a fair fight… for you…"

The guards then lunge at the 3 martial artists intending to cut them down.

- RRRRRAAAAAAGHHH!-

Ranma, Ryoga & Mousse assume combat stands and prepare for the ass-kicking that's about to follow.

-HAAAAAAA!-

+Meanwhile inside the Jarl's palace, Dragon's Reach+

"Irileth!" Screams a well dressed long-haired bearded blonde man wearing a small crown

"Yes my Jarl." Answers a dark-blue skinned red-haired woman with strong elfin features, pointy ears and bright red eyes.

"What is all that conmotion out there?"

"I don't know my Jarl. I've just send one of our men to investigate, though. He should be back shortly."

Just as the dark elf is finishing her statement the doors of dragon's reach are opened and a guard enters running as if he was being chased by the reaper.

"Uff… uff… My lord… uff… They… They…." The guard tries to speak among pants.

This makes Jarl Balgruuf to become mildly irritated "Catch your breath first, soldier! And then tell us what's going on!"

"Yes…. My lord."

+One minute later+

"Tell us now what is happening!" Irileth, the dark elf woman demands.

"My lord we are under attack!" The guard replies in alarm.

Jarl Balgruuf is caught by surprised by that news. "Who is attacking us? Is it the Empire or Ulfric? How many men they've sent? Where are they currently at?"He demands to his subject.

The guard shakes his head in denial. "Sorry my lord, but I couldn't tell if they were imperials or stormcloaks, I only know they are currently engaging the entire city guard."

"What?! How many are there?! In which part of the city they are now?! Answer me!" Balgruuf demands in alarm.

"Well… The last time I saw them they were still trying to enter the city, but haven't been able to move past the gates yet, thanks to the valiant sacrifice of our troops. But they've killed most of our men already…" The guard explains.

Balgruuf is shocked by this. "By Talos! How many are they?" He asks.

"3…"

"…3?" Irileth repeats in shock and disbelief.

The guard nods in confirmation. "Yes, 3... But they're pretty strong my lord. We have to go and help what's left of the city guard."

The jarl narrows his eyes. "I shall go personally." He declares with determination.

Irileth immediately assembles the remainig guards inside Dragon's reach and adress them.

"Listen Men! Whiterun is under siege and as her protectors is our duty to defend it. Ready your weapons and prepare to face the enemy. We march for the Gates immediately." She declares in front of the assembled troops.

- AYE!-

"How many do we have?" The Jarl inquires to his right hand.

"23… 25 if we count ourselves in." Irileth replies simply.

"That will be enough…" Balgruuf states with a nod. The Jarl then pulls out his sword and readies himself for combat. "Let's go!"

The entire retinue leaves the palace of Dragon's Reach and go towards the city's gates. There they find the entire city watch lying on the floor and moaning in pain. Ryoga is holding one unlucky guard in the air with one hand while using the other to bitch-slap him; Mousse is sitting on the floor cleaning and sharpening his weapons and Ranma is resting withouth a care on top of a pile of beated guards. The Jarl and his men are obviously awestrucked.

"What is the meaning of this!? Who are you, people!?" Balgruuf demands scandalized.

Ranma lazily takes a look at them from his spot "Ah, look! Here come more."

"Good, I was starting to get bored." Mousse replies with a nod.

"Why did you beat all my guards!?" Balgruuf demands pretty vexed.

Ranma replies with an uncaring shrug. "Well… They didn't want to let us inside the city."

"WHAT! That's it!? You beat my entire city watch because they didn't want to let you 3 inside the city!?" The Jarl states pretty shocked at such callous indiference.

"Pretty much, yeah." Ranma replies shamelessly.

By now, Jarl Balgruuf was about to blow a gasket "Men! Kill them!"

"With pleasure, Sir." Irileth states before she and the rest of the guards lunged at the martial artists.

+3 minutes later+

We found Jarl Balgruuf and his entourage writhing in pain on the floor. "Uuugh… It hurts…"

"MY LEG! OH GOD! WHY! MY LEG!" A guard yells in pain.

"MY KNEE!" Another guard yells.

Irileth was left face down on the ground spitting blood. "Blegh… ack… I… can't… move…"

Ranma shakes his head in dissapointment. "Man… These guys are weak."

Ryoga nods in agreement. "They didn't give us any challenge."

"They suck for combat." Mousse says.

"Urk… you're… too… strong…" Irileth manages to wheeze through her pain.

"I know I am, but even then it was still way too easy to defeat you guys." Ranma states arrogantly.

"I was expecting more." Ryoga says dissapointed too.

"Me too… but well, dosen't matter anymore. Now that all of you are here, can you tell us where we can find a guy named Jarl?" Ranma asks carefreely as if he were speaking about the weather with a friend instead of an entire regiment of soldiers he has just left broken and bloodied in the ground.

"Urrrgh… That would be me." Balgruuf replies trying to rise back up and failing miserably.

That made Ranma blink in perplexion. He wasn't expecting that the man in charge was among those he and his friends had just beaten. Note that he also didn't care that he beat him in the first place; he's only suprised because he turned out to be so weak. This dosen't even qualifies as a small workout for Cristh's sake!

"Well… That was easier than what I expected. Soooo! You're Carl?"

"Jarl!"

"That's what I said. Anyway, what a pretty weird name Jarl is. What kind of parents would give his children a name like that? Did they hate you or something? What does it even mean?" Ranma asks with untactful ignorance.

"My name is not Jarl! But Balgruuf! Jarl is the tittle that I hold for being the lord and master of these lands under my protection." Balgruuf replies back rather offended by the pig-tailed martial artist's rudeness.

"Under your protection…? So you're the protector of this city?" Ranma takes a moment to look around his surroundings. "Then I must say, what a lousy job you're doing. No offense."

Ranma crass and ignorant comments only manage to piss the Jarl further.

"Screw you!"

The pigtailed martial artist felt a little indignated at that response. I mean where all that hostility is coming from in the first place? He's just being honest, is not his fault that the people that are supposedly in charge of protecting the city are a bunch of useless weaklings.

"Hey! There's no reason for you to start insulting us. I was only telling it as I saw it. Man! What a bunch of pricks…"

The Jarl could do nothing but sigh in exasperation in his powerless state. "Just tell me what do you want with me…" He asks in irritation.

"Alright, straight to the point. Well you see… A dragon appeared and destroyed a town called Helgen and well, the people of Riverwood tasked us with the mission of coming here and secure help to defend the city in case the dragon decides to attack it too…" Ranma explains.

One of the beaten guards, who was ignorant to the latest news, did not liked that answer at all. "You damned psychos! You beat the entire Whiterun's city watch only because of a Legend?"

"What Legend?" Ryoga asks clueless.

"The dragon! That's just a myth! Everybody knows dragons have been extinct for centuries." The guard states.

"But they do exist…" Ranma replies.

"Of course they don't…"

"Of course they DO!" Ryoga snaps, indignated. "I saw it with my own eyes, I heard it with my own ears, I smell it with my own nose and I felt it with my own skin, because that damned overgrowned lizard burned me! Look, my shirt is all burned up!"

Ryoga grabs and points at the burned holes and soot in his shirt, show it them all around for all to see.

"Yes, look! The dragon burned Ryoga, so it is obvious that it's real. Look at all that burned skin…" Ranma confirms, pointing to Ryoga too.

"Look at it!" Says Ryoga.

The Jarl and the entire city watch began to wonder if the 3 friends were mentally challenged. The skeptic guard still was not convinced.

"That dosen't mean a thing! It could have been anything else! A mage could have done it! Or maybe your friend is too stupid and tripped down on a bonfire or something."

Ranma decided to ignore that last comment, although that didn't mean that the guard was wrong. "We are not discussing if Ryoga is a useless moron or not…"

"Hey! Who you're calling useless!? The one who's useless is Mousse!" Ryoga replied offended, although he did not said anything to discreedit the claim that he was a moron.

"What is wrong with you 2! I'm not useless! I helped too in defeating all these weak and poor excuses of guards!" Mousse snaps back in indignation.

"Whatever! We 2 defeated much more than you." Ranma replies uncaringly.

"See! I was right!" Ryoga exclaims.

"Yes, but let's not stray from subject. We are not talking about how useless is Mousse." Ranma says, dismissing the subject.

"How I hate you guys…" Mousse mumbles, seething.

"We're talking about the dragon that destroyed Helgen and that's still roaming around somewhere." Ranma finishes stating, completely ignoring Mousse.

Balgruuf simply coughs, bringing the attention back to him. "If what you say is true then you're going to have to go speak with Farengar."

"Who's that?" Ranma Inquires.

"He is the court mage of Whiterun, very well known through out the hold." The Jarl states.

The pigtailed martial artist was not impressed or cared for some local celebrity unless he's useful for his goals. "And?" He prompted, uncaringly.

"And… He is an expert in the subject of Dragons. He's been studying their legends for years. You should look for him inside his study at the palace, over there!" The jarl struggles to lift a mangled and bloddied finger towards the direction of Dragonsreach.

"Ah! I see, well we better go and see him immediately then… Oh, yes… By the way where we can find the nearest temple?" Ranma inquires, casually.

The Jarl looked at Ranma strangely at that question. "Why do you want to know? The ones who have to go to the nearest temple for medical assistance are us, the injured, not you and your followers."

Ranma gets on his knees and starts to beg. "Please! Tell us where it is!"

"No! I will not tell you until you deal with the problem of the dragon."

"Why us?" Ranma complains, not liking the idea of being saddled with someone else problem. Has enough of that back in Nerima, thank you very much.

"Because you 3 just left Whiterun defenseless towards an attack! And there's no one else that can go and kill the dragon!" Balgruuf snaps back, exasperated. "Besides I believe you're strong enough to kill a dragon without much trouble."

"Fine! We'll bring the head of the dragon to you and in exchange you'll tell us where the temple is and instruct us in the prayers to use in the altars to the gods." Ranma said, giving his own terms before accepting to do this job.

The jarl coughed some blood before nooding with his head. It was not like he was in a position to refuse the martial artist's demands. "Deal! Now get out of here! We must go and find a healer."

"Ok, bye!" The pig-tailed martial says before departing.

The trio starts walking and heads in the direction of Dragonsreach. Ryoga decided this was a good time to ask Ranma for a little clarification in some doubts he has.

"Ranma, tell me something."

"Yes, what?"

"Why didn't we beat the location of the temple out of them instead of acepting to kill the dragon?"

"Well… They were so weak and we had already defeated them pretty easily that I kinda began to feel pity for them after seeing how pathetic they were." Ranma replies with a little unease.

"I see…"

"Besides… If we had done that, they may have ended keeping a grudge against us and tried to get back at us by giving us some false prayers or something. And then when we had gotten in front of the altars instead of curing our curses we would have ended up getting new ones and I don't want that to happen." Ranma explains.

"Wow… I hadn't thought about that, you're right!" Ryoga states, pondering that answer.

"I know! this way is much safer. Well we nearly arrived at the palace so let us focus on the mission." Ranma says, putting an end to the conversation.

The 3 companions enter Dragonsreach and look at their surroundings, fascinated by the interior until they reach the main dinning table.

"…mmm… It looks like the interior of a Viking's house." Ryoga comments through his musings.

"How do you know how a Viking's house looks on the inside?" Mousse inquires, curious.

"You don't know the places I've been through all my travels." Ryoga states with a shake of his head.

"Travels? Is that what you call each of the times you get lost?" Ranma comments snidely.

"Shut up Ranma!" Ryoga snaps back in affront.

"Ha! I knew it! Anyway, we should look for this Farengar guy. Where could he be?" Ranma see's a hooded guy in an adjacent room. "Hey you!"

The hooded man aknowledges the adress and turns around. "Yes….?"

"Would you happen to know where Farengar is?" Ranma asks to the man.

"I'm Farengar, what do you want?"

"You're Farengar? Well the Jarl sent us to speak with you."

"Ah! The Jarl, I was wondering where he could be alongside everybody else, haven't seen them since all that conmotion that was going on in the city." Farengar comments mild-distracted.

That statement brought forward one of Ranma's most straight and totally shameless moments of honesty. "Oh yeah, those were us."

Of course the court mage wasn't expecting that kind of proclamation. "What...? Those were you?" He said in astonishment.

"Yep… All that ruckus was us being forced to kick the crap out of everybody because they were keeping us from entering inside the city for no apparent reason."

Farengar was confused a little by that answer. "Excuse me? How…? Did you fight somebody?"

"Yeah…" Ranma confirmed.

"Who…?"

"Well… All the guards of the city and the Jarl himself and his elven friend…"

After that, not too delicate explanation, a very akward silence followed next.

…

…

…

…

And it was only broken by another of Ranma's untactful comments. "They were pretty weak to tell the truth."

Farengar began to cough in nervousness. "Errr… So you slayed all the guards and the Jarl…?"

"Slayed…?" Inquired a puzzled Ranma. "Nevermind; the Jarl send us to speak to you after that."

Now it was Farengar time to be confused again. "But didn't you just say that you killed him."

"Killed him!" Remarked Ranma in surprise. "No, I didn't kill him. I killed nobody, killing is bad. I just punched him hard enough until he talked, he then told me to come here and see you."

"With me…?" Asked an increasingly nervous Farengar.

"Yes with you." Ranma confirmed.

Farengar was not feeling reassured in the least by that statement. What could these people want with him? This was bevoming a pretty scaring situation for him, if these people were able to defeat the entire city watch and the Jarl alongside his retinue without a scratch; what could he possibly do to defend himself if they decided to beat him too? He was just a humble court mage, more of an advisor than a battle mage, he would stand no chance. Farengar began to sweat bullets at that thought.

"Errrr…. (gulp) Why did he send you with me?" He ventured to ask.

"He said you're a famous mage and would know how to deal with the dragon." Ranma stated.

Once more Farengar was not ready for the kind of things that Ranma tends to deliver while speaking.

"Dragon? What dragon?" The court mage asked, puzzled.

"The dragon that destroyed Helgen. The Jarl told us you'll know how to kill it." Ranma said, pointedly.

"Are you serious? There really is a dragon!?" Farengar inquired, intrigued.

"Yeah"

"Then if what you say is true I'll need to get my hands on the dragonstone." Farengar declared.

"The dragonstone?" Ranma asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Yes the Dragonstone; is an ancient stone slate that will prove pivotal in our efforts to find a way to defeat the Dragons. Sadly, the Dragonstone is locked away in some ruins filled with traps and dangers." Farengar explains.

"Just tell us where it is and we'll get it." Ranma declared without hesitation.

"Really! You would!?" Farengar said, particularly jitty at the prospect.

"Of course, besides, there's no one else in the city that can go anyways. Our fault, sorry." Ranma states, sheepishly.

"Well, yes that's true."

"Where are these ruins?" Mousse inquired.

"Their location is at the top of the mountain north of Riverwood. The name of the ruins is Bleak Falls Barrow." Farengar stated.

"Thank you, we'll go immediately." Ranma declared, before starting to walk away.

"I appreciate it. It is highly important that you treat this artifact with the outmost care, make sure you don't drop it or do anything that could break it." Farengar stressed, towards the group.

"We understand, we'll be careful. Bye for now." Ranma said as parting words.

The team leaves Dragonsreach and heads back towards the city gates.

"Well, back towards Riverwood we go!" Ranma declared, lifting an arm forward for emphasis.

"Hey Ranma, What kind of artifact you think the Dragonstone could be?" Ryoga asks.

Ranma assumes a thinking pose while he muses on an answer. "For how Farengar was speaking about it, I believe it must be some kind of magical weapon to kill Dragons or something…"

"A magical weapon?" Mousse inquires intrigued.

"Yes a magical weapon. Maybe in the past it was used to kill dragons but it was so powerful that once there were no more dragons to kill, it was hidden in a tomb so that its power could not be used for evil." Ranma elaborated.

"…mmm… maybe…" Mousse said in ponder.

The group finished descending the Dragonsreach's stairs and found themselves near a robed old man yelling in front of a statue of a man that looked like a Viking.

"Praised be Talos! The true god of the children of Skyrim! PRAISE HIM!"

Ryoga couldn't help but look at the man oddly. "What's up with that old geezer? Why is he screaming to a statue?"

Mousse made it know how much he cared about that. "Maybe he was dropped as a child and hit his head, I don't care. Anyway, if the Dragonstone was a magical weapon, then how was that it worked? Its name tells us exactly what it is Dragon_STONE… _How do you kill a dragon with a stone?"

"Yes I'm wondering that too." Ryoga admitted, agreeing with Mousse. "The dragon we saw had his skin full of scales that appeared to be stronger than any rock."

Ranma became pensive for a moment. "…mmm… Maybe the dragon has a weak spot that if you hit it with the stone he dies."

"But where?" Ryoga asked.

"I dunno? The head, maybe?"

"Mmph… that's a likely possibility, yes…." Mousse said in thought.

"Wow! A stone that can kill dragons just by hitting them in the head…" Ryoga said, amazed.

"That must be the reason why it was sealed in the first place." Mousse stated with all confidence.

"Yes, so much power could be dangerous in the wrong hands. We must ensure we are the only ones to know about the stone existence." Ranma warned to his companions.

"That is true, if people were to know about the stone they would try to steal it from us to do evil." Ryoga stated, thinking about the implications.

"We must keep this information in secret!" Mousse declares.

Suddenly Ranma starts to remember something very important and stops in his tracts without warning.

"Wait!"

"What? Somebody is about to attack us again?" Ryoga asks, looking around their surroundings.

"No, is not that." Ranma states.

"Then what is it!?" A vexed Mousse asks.

"Remember those cat-people are still waiting in front of the city." Ranma tells ho his rivals.

"Ah, yes… It's true. It seemed they had a camp raised already." Mousse drawls uncaringly.

"Then we're gonna have to jump over the city walls to avoid them." Ranma states, hitting his fist with his other palm.

"Goddammit Ranma! You and your phobias!" Ryoga declares in annoyance.

"Just shut up and jump over the walls or we're never going to reach our destination on time." Ranma spats back unwilling to budge in this matter.

"Fine! Let's get over this already, its not like it would be hard for us anyway." Mousse acqueisces.

They jump over the city walls and land outside in one of the farm fields surrounding Whiterun. Ranma turns towards the group. "Ok, let's go. We'll have to leg it if we want to finish with this quickly."

+10 minutes of crazy running later, and the group found themselves back on Riverwood+

"Well, we're back on Riverwood. Now what?" Mousse asks with his usual cheerful attitude.

"Let's go with Alvor for some food, maybe he can tell us something about these ruins." Ranma proposes.

"Ok then, what are we waiting for?" Ryoga says.

+The group goes in search of Alvor's workshop+

"Yo! We're back!" Ranma calls not too discretely.

Alvor stops working in his forge to adress the 3 martial artists. "Ah friends, it's good to see you again. How did you fare in your task?"

"Pretty well." Ranma answers.

"I'm glad to hear that." Alvor replies with a nod. "Does that mean you saw the Jarl? Will he send the reinforcements for the town?"

"Yes we saw the Jarl, and no; he will not be sending any reinforcements." Ranma states plainly.

Alvor obviously, is shocked by that news. "WHAT! What do you mean by that? Why not?"

"Because all the guards of Whiterun are wounded and hospitalized. There's not even one left to defend the city." Ranma explains with blunt honesty.

Alvor is flabbergasted at hearing that. "The entire city guard was injured!? How did that happened!? What's Whiterun attacked!? Is this the work of Ulfric!?"

"Well, I'm not pretty well acquaintanced with that Ulfric fellow to know him well, but I can tell you he didn't do it." Ranma confessed with a shrug.

"Then Who? The dragons?"

"Err… Not exactly… It was the 3 of us to tell the truth." Ranma answered sheepishly.

Alvor was left stumped by that answer. "You 3? How…!?"

"Well the guards at the entrance were being pretty rude and they didn't wanted to let us inside the city, so we had to beat them up a little but not before they called for help and then one thing led to another and in the end we had to knock out the entire city garrison alongisde the Jarl and his bodyguards… They were pretty weak." Ranma declares a little ashamed but turning boastful at the end.

Alvor was simply too stunned stupid to give a proper answer to that, it was just too umbelievable to be true. "Are you telling me that you 3 attacked Whiterun; unarmed! Fought against hundreds of armed soldiers and the Jarl who is a war hero and his dark elf housecarl who's also a great warrior and won?"

"Yeah." Ranma confesses

"It was pretty easy." Mousse adds.

Ranma continued his explanation as if beating the entire armed guard of a city was no big deal. "Well the point is; there are no reinforcements so the Jarl sent us to talk with his court wizard to find a way to kill the Dragon. And he in turn, sent us to look for a magical thingy that will allow us to kill the dragon ourselves."

"So you're going to face and slay the dragon?" Alvor inquires.

"Yes."

"Then I wish you 3 the best of lucks in all Tamriel."

"Thanks."

"By the way, do you know where that magical artifact to kill dragons is?" Alvor asks with curiosity.

"Is in some ruins called Bleak Falls Barrow. Would you know where it is?" Ranma pleads to the taller Nord.

"Of course, is up there in the Mountain. You'll have to take that road to reach the top." Says Alvor, pointing at said road.

"Oh, thank you very much. By the way I hope if there's no problem to ask you for some food. Beating all those guards and running all the way here leaved us quite hungry." Ranma petitions, taking a hand over his stomach.

"No it's no bother. I owe you an irrepleaceble debt to you 3 for saving my nephew's life, you're free to eat and rest all you want, I don't mind." Alvor replies good-naturely.

"Wow! Many thanks!"

"With pleasure… Oh! By the way maestre Ryoga…" Alvor said turning towards the pig-cursed martial artist.

"Yes, is something wrong?"

"I've noticed your shirt is a little tattered and burned." Alvor observes.

"Yes, that damn dragon burned it." Ryoga stated with a bit of anger.

"Well since Hadvar is a soldier serving in the legions he sometimes helps me in my work of crafting and supplying weapons and armor for the empire. Currently I have some armor to spare, so if you wish I can give you one to replace your burned outfit." Alvor proposed to the eternally lost boy.

"Really! That would be great!"

"Very well, just give me a moment to go and fetch the armor…" Says Alvor as he walks towards the back of his workshop.

+A couple of minutes pass+

"Here, take this armor. It's a light leather armor, I believe it is of your size." Alvor says after having returned and presents the armor to Ryoga.

"Let's see then" Ryoga says as he dons the armor. "It fits me really well, it almost has no weight but I don't like the skirt really much." He says while pointing out at the armored fringes hanging around his hips.

"But that skirt looks pretty well on you, maybe we can buy you a purse to match with it." Ranma comments mockingly.

"Shut up Ranma!" Ryoga rages back in affront before ripping the skirt out of the armor. "Much better."

"As you wish, I hope it serves you well. Now come, the food is almost ready." Alvor said, motioning for the 3 martial artists ro follow him.

Ranma answers with a happy nod. "Ok, let's eat."

+A couple of hours later+

"Well, we'll be seeing you later Alvor. Thanks for everything." Ranma says, giving his farewells.

"It's nothing. By the way, I heard a group of bandits took residence inside Bleak Falls Barrow so make sure to be careful." Alvor says as warning.

"Yes we will. Thanks once again and until next time." Ranma states before going back on his ways.

"Bye" Calls Ryoga.

"Thanks for everything." Mousse says as he leaves too.

"Make sure to visit if you need anything." Alvor calls as last words towards the departing friends.

The trio then began their journey to reach the top of the mountain.

"Oh boy, I can hardly believe it!" Ranma exclaims, oddly excited for some reason.

"What!?" Ryoga asks.

"Oh nothing, I'm just pretty excited, that's all." Ranma stated.

"Excited!? What there is to be excited about?" Mousse questions with skepticism.

"Oh c'mon don't tell me you 2 don't find it cool that we've been called on an epic quest to kill a dragon." Ranma says, practically bouncing with childish exciment.

"I would not say we've been called." Ryoga mentions.

"Yeah, we were just the only ones who were available." Mousse comments.

"Because we hospitalized everyone else." Ryoga adds.

"If you say it that way you take all the epicness away." Ranma complained.

"Maybe… But regardless, we should…" Mousse began to say before he was interrupted by a loud howl coming from pretty close to them.

"Wolfs!" States assuming a combat stance.

A pack of 5 wolves appears from the nearby brush and rush, howling, towards the trio.

Ranma turns towards the rabid canines as if he were dealing with a cute little fuzzy animal. "Oh! Hey there are you lost?"

His response was an angry growl. "Grrrrrrwoooolll!"

"Who is a good boy!? Who is a good boy!? Yes, you are…"

The wolf makes a 360 in his attitude and starts acting like a playful mutt. He lies in the ground and starts rolling sideways with his belly up while wiggling his tail. Ranma kneels and start scratching his tummy.

"Tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle. Ah! what a nice doggy."

His two companions didn't know what to think of what they were witnessing.

"I'm pretty sure is a wolf not a dog." Ryoga pointed out with a gobsmacked expression.

The other wolves aproach Ranma and start licking and playing with him.

Mousse quckly becames irritated at the mushy scene. "Tipical! An animal –that's not a cat- appears and he becomes friends with Ranma."

"I didn't know you liked wolves." Ryoga inquires with curiosity.

"How would I not like them? Wolves are pretty god to scare c..c..catsss. I always wanted to get one but I couldn't; first, because we were only me and my pops and we never had enough food and then after we started living in the Tendo Dojo because Akane would not have let me have one inside the house." Ranma says, reminiscing about the past.

"Stop playing with the wolves, already! We have to keep moving!" Mousse demands, irritated.

"Fine!" Ranma relents, he then turns towards the wolfs. "Ok wolvies, I have to go now. Make sure to be good boys and eat all the hideous cats you can."

The Wolves barks in agreement happlily.

WOOOOF!

"Very well, let's move on." Ranma states before continuing on their way.

The group keeps going on his way up the mountain until stumbling upon a wayside watchtower.

"Hmmph… I wonder if this is the place?" Mousse comments off-handedly.

A pair of bandits keeping watch in front of the tower spots them.

"You! Stop there!"

"Oh!? Good day to you." Ranma greets back casually.

"Halt! You cannot pass unless you pay a toll." The lead bandit said getting in the way of Ranma and the others.

"Pay?! How much this toll is supossed to be?" Ranma inquires.

"20 septims per person." Replies the bandit.

"WHAT!? We don't have any money." Ranma calls back in surprise.

"Then you die." Was the bandit simple answer.

"Arrrgh… Fine! Let me see if there's a pawn shop around here so I can go and get you the money." Says Ranma, cursing his luck.

"Pawn shop? What is that?" The bandit asks back puzzled.

Ranma is astonished by that answer. "You don't know what a pawn shop is!? A pawns shop is a very sophisticated and legal way to steal and scam people withouth the police being able to do anything about it and the victim to complain or act against it."

Bandit began to mull over Ranma's words. "That sounds interesting. Let us go inside and take you to the boss so you can explain us better this pawn shop system."

"Oh? Ok, lead the way then."

2 hours later… Ranma and co. found themselves on a table drinking and eating while in the company of the bandits. The leader of the bandits, a red-headed nord with long hair with the front fixed in a long trenze on each side of his face, a rough beard and a scar on his right eye, is sitting at the head of the table.

"And then I hit him so hard that he fell almost half-dead, and he couldn't stop screaming from the pain. So in the end I took pity on the poor bastard and stopped beating him and his guards." Says Ranma describing his and his companions' adventures during their stay in Skyrim, much to the amusement of the band of outlaws that comprises his audience.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

"And then we went back to Riverwood and here we are…"

The bandit Leader let's out a bellowing laugh after hearing that story. "I can't believe you 3 beat all the guards of Whiterun and its Jarl bare-fisted."

"Well… That's because we 3 have spent our entire lives training in the martial arts and many others diverse fighting schools and we are way past the rank of master. And it also help that we are very fast and powerful. Well, mostly me and Ryoga are, Mousse is more of a weapon user than a fighter." Ranma states pretty confidently.

"So he is a master swordsman?" The bandit leader inquires.

"Err… Not exactly, his school makes him quick and agile on his feet and gives him the ability to conceal a very big number of weapons inside his robes that he throws against his enemies with great accuracy, even though most of the time he is blind as a bat (Hey!) How he does to store that much weapons inside his clothes is a big mystery even to me." Ranma explains.

"Actually, it's pretty easy. But I'm never going to reveal my secret." Moussy boasts with a crazy evil laugh.

"I don't care." Ranma spats back. "I don't need weapons to fight. I can defeat anybody with these 2 fists of mine." He boasts lifting his fists up.

"Then let us put those claims to the test." The bandit leader said standing up to issue his challenge. "Fight against me in honorable duel. I'm a great fighter in hand-to-hand combat myself and if you manage to defeat me then I'll believe you."

"I have no problem for a little spar. But since I like you I'll make sure to attack you as lightly as I can to not hurt you very much." Ranma stated as if any other possibility didn't existed.

The bandit leader did not take kindly to those words. "Are you mocking me? Only for that I'm going to attack you with all my strength."

"As you wish." Is Ranma simple answer.

Both fighters leave the table and go outside into the bitter cold; they are followed closely by the rest of the bandit gang alongside Ryoga and Mousse. The bandits encircle both combatants to form a makeshift arena and began howling and jeering for the battle to come. The bandit leader raises his arms and takes a combat stance while Ranma remains in a relaxed stance with his hands on his pockets.

"Are you not going to raise your guard?" The bandit leader asked, puzzled at seeing his opponent leaving himself totally open to attack.

"No, I'm fine like this, thank you."

"Very well, is your funeral. Raaaaaah!" The bandit leader runs towards Ranma with a warcry and tries to land a punch on him, only for the pigtailed martial artist to evade every single of his blows with seemingly no effort.

"Man, you're so slow. I can see your attacks coming from miles away, my turn." Ranma mocks, before suddenly materializing on the Bandit leader's side and delivering a hook in his kidney. The force of the impact liftes the taller Nord 6 feet from the ground before he lands back with a painful smash. He does not try to stand back again.

"Now you believe me?" Ranma says, crossing his arms and assuming a relaxed stance.

"Yes… (Painful groan) I believe you." The Bandit Leader replies from were he is kissing dirt.

Ranma nods knowingly. "And that's me using a very light punch. I didn't even have to put a tenth of my strength behind that hit."

That news left many of the bandits wondering about Ranma's true strength.

- He is too strong-

- I didn't even see when he got close to the chief-

- Is best not to do anything to make him mad-

- You think the chief will be okay?-

- I don't know, I hope so-

The Bandit leader struggles to stand back again and turns to face Ranma. "I bow to your skills; truly you are one of the most fierce warriors I've ever met." He extends a hand to Ranma. "The name's Ragnvald by the way."

Ranma accepts the offered appentice and shakes hands with the bandit leader. "Ranma."

Ragnvald nods in aknowledgement. "So tell me, what brings such powerful warriors through my humble camp?"

"Well… Remember when I told you that we beat all the guards of Whiterun." Ranma begins to explain.

"Yes…" Ragnvald replies, raising and eyebrow.

"Well, the reason why we went to Whiterun in the first place is because there's a dragon prowling around the contryside and destroying villages. So the people of the town of Riverwood send us there to ask help to the Jarl to defend the town." Ranma explains.

"But you beat every single guard of Whiterun, leaving the city defenseless to any attack. They must not have the strength to send help against the dragon." Remarks a confused Ragnvald.

"Yup, that's why the Jarl ordered us to kill the dragon." Ranma admits.

Ragnvald is puzzled even more at that answer. "If you are under the Jarl's orders to kill the dragon then what are you 3 doing in here?"

"Let me finish… It seems that hidden within a nearby cript, there's a powerful magical artifact that was once used to kill the dragons." Ranma states.

Mousse is startled at how Ranma casually reveals mportant secrets to strangers. "Ranma! Didn't you say that we should keep that information to ourselves!?"

"Yeah, but only towards strangers. Rag and his pals are no strangers." The pig-tailed young man says pointing behind him to the group of bandits.

"You know them from only 2 hours ago!" Ryoga exclaims, stupefeid.

"Yes, but I feel as if I've know them for my entire life."

Ragnvald is flattered by those words. "Oh! Thanks, that's pretty sweet of you."

Ranma decides to get back to the subject. "Well as I was saying… This artifact, know as the dragonstone, had a power without equal that was used to kill the dragons by hiting them with it in the head; their only weak spot."

"Wow! Really! Is it true!?" An impressed Ragnvald asks.

"Yes, but when there was no more dragons to kill, people began to fear that the dragonstone could be used for evil; so it was sealed inside Bleak Falls Barrow to remain hidden to the end of times or if the dragons returned."

"I can't believe it!" Ragnvald declares, astonished.

"Believe it! We were told of this by a very famous mage. You know the one from the Jarl's court in Whiterun… Farengar." Ranma states with complete confidence.

The bandits began to murmur their wonderings in the background after those news.

-I've heard of him.-

-Me too. They say his knowledge of ancient Dragon lore is unparalled. So the story must be true.-

-We should try to recover this Dragonstone!-

-But what if its power consumes us. There's a reason why we haven't tried to take over that tomb; the defenses set inside are remarkably strong. Proof enough, that whatever it is hidden in there is too dangerous if such extreme measures were deemed necessary.-

-Then we should try to get rid of it, I say we should try to crumble the crypt down.-

-Aye, I think the same.-

Ragnvald is irked by his subordinates plotting behind his back. "SILENCE! We will do nothing with the dragonstone until the dragon is eliminated!"

"That's probably for the best." Ranma agrees.

"By your leave, I would like to acompany you, with some of my men, inside this crypt." Rangvald proposes to the aqua-gender bender.

Ranma assumes a thinking pose, considering Rangvald offer." Well… we are certainly In need of a guide if we don't want to get lost inside that place. So I don't see any problem with you accompaning us."

Ragnvald beams a smile at that. "Excelent! Ugrub! Harold! Come here!"

At the call of their leader, a big burly orc with lots of scars in his face, white war paint in the shape of a hand, a broken tusk and whose only traces of hair are a high ponytail in the back of his head, alongside a tall nord with dreadlocks, light brown dirty hair and a scar running down the right side of his lips and down to his chin; aproach. The 2 are clad in furs.

"Who are they?" Asks a mild-interested Ranma.

"These are 2 of my best men; they will acompany us in our quest for the dragonstone." Ragnvald explains.

"Okay, No problem." Ranma says.

"Excellent. Let us be on our way, then." Declares Ragnvald before beginning preparations for departure.

The rest of the bandits say their goodbyes to the group.

-Good luck boss, may Talos guide you.-

-Go find that stone.-

-Be careful, all of you.-

"Thanks, We will…" Ragnvald replies.

The group goes to the top of the mountain while a snowstorm is raging and enters into Bleak Falls Barrow. They heard the sounds of some voices once inside; they decide to approach towards the directions of the voices with Ragnvald at the lead to confront whoever is inside.

"Who goes there!?" Calls the bandit leader into the looming darkness.

-Ah! Boss, it's you!- A voice responds.

"Agna? Hans? Is that you?" Ragnvald inquires, once they were close enough to recognize the owners of the voices.

"Yes it's us. Who are those strangers with you boss?" A nord woman wielding a two-handed axe says.

Ragnvald motions towards Ranma and Co. "Ah, you see. These are some friends that have come to retrieve a terrible weapon that was hidden inside this tomb. It is a crucial artifact needed to put an end to the dragon menace."

"Wow… I didn't know such a thing could be found inside this place." Says the second person, another nord warrior, in amazement.

"Yes, and it's very important that we find it." Ranma states.

"Ah!? Maybe I should mention about the dark elf." Says the woman a little hesitant.

Ragnvald becomes immeditly suspicious at that, his eyes narrow. "What dark elf?"

"Yes, Arvel the swift ventured inside the tomb with the golden claw in his possession some time ago." The nord warrior, Hans, replies.

"Golden Claw?" Ranma inquires.

Ragnvald, knowing exactly what his underlings are talking about, becomes pretty livid at those news. "You found the golden claw and you didn't tell me about it!?"

Agna rubbes the back of her head with a sheepish expression. "Ummm… Yes, sorry boss. We were just curious as to what kind of treasures could be found locked away inside this tomb, but…"

"But…" An angry Ragnvald prompts.

"But if we had known that there was a terrible and dangerous weapon hidden in here, we would have never tried to act behind your back." Hans finishes for his friend, lamely.

"What is this golden claw, anyway?" Asks Ranma in a bored tone.

"In the deepest bowels of this tomb, there's a door that can't be opened through any normal means." Ragnvald explains.

"And this claw is needed to open this door, I pressume?" Mousse comments.

"Yes, that's correct." Agna replies.

"Then if we wish to get the dragonstone, we will have to take the claw from this elf." Ranma states with conviction.

"So it seems."

"Ok, then let's do this, already." Declares Ryoga, wanting to continue on their way.

"Indeed, we should get a move on. We'll have to be hasty about it since the elf already has a great advantage over us. Let us hope the imbecile hasn't found the stone before us and gets corrupted by it." Ugrub, the orc follower, states.

"Yes, it is best to hurry." Harold, the other nord follower with dreadlocks, says.

"Yes… Although Ralph has already gone in search of him." The woman, Agna, mentions.

"Ralph! That fool has betrayed me too!?" Ragnvald demands in a fury.

"We are so sorry boss…" Both Hans & Agna reply with a downcasted expression.

"I'm getting bored already! Are we going in or not?" An impatient Ranma express.

Ragnvald considers what to do for a moment before acquiescieng. "Yes, we should move foward." He turns towards Hans & Agna. "You two!"

-Yes, boss-

"Go and meet the others outside in the tower. I will deal with you 2 and punish you like you deserve when I get back." Ragnvald commands with all the authority of a vicious gang leader.

-Yes, boss-

Ragnvald then turns back towards the group. "Let's go."

They began to make their way inside the tomb after that.

"Damn! This is a pretty big crypt!" An impressed Ranma stated with a whistle after looking at their surroundings.

"Yeah, and very old too." Mousse commented through his own inspection.

Ryoga stares at the rows of coffins embedded in the walls "There sure are a lot of coffins in here, and all of them made of stone. It must have been pretty hard to drag them all in here."

The eternal lost boy then touches one of the coffins, dropping the old, dusty lid and causing a loud pounding noise to echo throught the tomb.

Mousse begans to clap with a deadpan. "Awesome! Bravo! You just compleately eliminated our element of surprise."

"But I barely touched it!" Ryoga says in nervousness.

**Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!**

Their little spat is interrupted by some weird groans and noises, the dried corpse inside the coffin starts rising from his tomb; his eyes glowing with unnatural light. Ranma and his group do not take this turn of events rather well.

"OH MY GOD! ZOMBIES!" Ranma exclaims compleately freaking out.

"AHHHHHHHH! ZOMBIES!" Says Mousse freaking out too.

Ranma immediately begins to bark orders to keep the situation under control. "Quick! Nobody breathe the air! Cover your mouth and nose. Somebody dropped the T-Virus in here!"

Ryoga pulls down his bandana and uses it to cover his face. "Remember, don't let them bite you!"

"Aim for the head! It's their weak spot!" Mousse advises.

Ranma faces the zombie head on. "Go back to the grave, you fucking zombie!"

**Aaaaaaaaaah**

Ranma kicks him in the face and send his head flying away.

"Quickly! Burn him with fire." Mousse advises frantically.

"No way with water, right…?" Ryoga replies with sarcasm.

"Quick! Let us put on some gloves and take him outside to burn his remains." Ranma says to his friends.

Ragnvald just deadpans at their reaction "That's not a zombie."

"What!? But he's a walking corpse!" Ranma replies, dumbfounded.

"Yes, but it's not a zombie." Ragnvald says matter-of-factly.

"Then what is it?" Mousse asks, annoyed.

"It's a Draugr." Ragnvald answers.

"A Draugr? What is that?" Ryoga inquires, puzzled.

"They are the bodies of our ancestors that have been consacrated to protect the secrets of resting places like this for all eternity, even in death." Ragnvald explains.

"What a boring way to spend the rest of your afterlife." Ryoga comments.

"Yeah, why they not better go to a more pretty place in which to enjoy their lives… I mean deaths." Ranma wonders in puzzlement.

Mousse thinks about it for a moment. "mmmph… I don't think they can just simply leave like that. I mean if they go to another place, they will most likely end up leaving a stench. What with them being dead and rotten and all that."

"Well, that has a lot of sense…" Says Ranma in ponder.

"Well if I were dead, I would certainly want to be somewhere else than spending the whole eternity guarding a stinking old tomb." Ryoga states in dismissal.

"Considering this "stinking old tomb" as you said, holds the terrible dragonstone. I'm not surprised they hadn't left this place defenseless." Mousse elaborates.

"Actually, all crypts like this one are guarded by draugrs, spiders and many more dangerous creatures." Harold explains.

Ranma simply stares, flumoxed "…Why?"

"Well to protect it of course."

"From what?" Ryoga asks, stumped.

"From graverobbers and tomb raiders like us." Harold states simply.

"I still feel that's too much for just a single tomb." Ranma comments with a shake of his head.

"Nonsense! Nothing is too much to honor the dead." Harold rebukes.

Ranma ponders a little. "mmmph… maybe…"

"At any rate, we should press on. This will not be the only or last draugr that we are bound to find in this place." Ragnvald says trying to get the group to refocus on their mission.

"You are right; there must be more of this corpes prowling around. We should ready ourselves to face them." Ranma stated in agreement.

The group keeps moving and exploring the crypt, killing all draugr they stumble upon. They finally found some stairs and began to descend further into the tomb.

"You know despite being dead and all, these draugrs are still pretty weak." Ranma comments casually.

"They are not worthy of our attention." Ryoga adds.

Ugrub can't help to be awed by the feats he has witnessed the 3 martial artist do. "Never in my entire life have I seen someone blowing away an opponent's torso with a single hit."

"You are truly strong." Ragnvald praised.

"Yes we are, but nevermind that, their bodies were already all rotten and decayed so it was pretty easy to break them because of it." Said Ranma in dismissal.

"Decayed or not, it still remains as an impressive feat." Ragnvald reaffirmed.

Ranma just shrugged, uncaringly. "If you say so."

Ragnvald suddenly becomes alarmed and signals the group to stop.

"Hush… did you hear that!"

The group stays quiet for a moment and in the silence they manage to hear some faint noises at the distance.

"Sounds like footsteps to me…" Ranma comments in a whisper.

"C'mon, follow me." Ragnvald motions to the group.

They reach a wide room with a metal gate blocking the path at one end, in the middle of the room, a bandit is seen about to press a stone button in top of a pedestal.

"Ralph, is that you?" Ragnvald asks towards the lonely bandit.

The bandit, Ralph, takes a look behind him and becomes alarmed at seeing Ragnvald inside the tomb. "Boss! Shit! I can explain!"

"What in Oblivion do you think you're doing by betraying me?" Ragnvald demands, irate.

"I was just trying to get pass this gate…" The bandit presses the button and arrows began to come out of the walls and ceiling.

"Take cover!" Ranma yells, before pushing Ragnvald aside and down to the floor, keeping both with their heads down, Mousse jumps back and out of the room and Ryoga, Ugrub & Harold drop themselves on the floor to avoid the barrage of arrows. Ralph falls dead, turned into a pincushion.

"Ralph!" Ragnvald yells at seeing his minion demise.

Mousse enters back in the room and grabs one of the arrows lying on the floor to inspect it. "They're poisoned…"

"Of course they are. What did you expect?" Ranma replies with sarcasm.

"Blast it!" Ragnvald curses. "We must keep moving…"

"Ummm… Hey bosss…?" Ugrub says hesitantly.

"Yes… What is it?"

"The gate is locked…" The orc points at gate.

Harold goes and inspects the pedestal. "It seems the only way to open the door is through this mechanism, though it seems to require a combination of some sort."

"A riddle!? Do you have an idea how to solve it friend Ranma?" Ragnvald asks to the pig-tailed martial artist.

"Ummm... I don't know!" Ranma replies nervously. "I'm not too good for riddles, Ryoga!"

"What!?"

"Can you do us the favor of breaking through that door?"

"Sure why not."

Ragnvald looks at the 2 martial artists dubiously. "I know you 3 are strong, but that is a sturdy gate made of iron. I don't think you can…"

_**Bakusai Tenkestsu!**_

The metal gate explodes, hurling big pieces of shrapnel down the corridor.

"See, what did I tell you?" Ranma says smugly.

Ragnvald is so amazed by that feat that he can only state in a plain tone. "My respect for you 3 reaches new heights with each passing second."

"Alongside our fear…" Ugrub adds deadpanning.

Ranma gives a satisfied nod. "Good! Let's best keep going."

They keep exploring the crypt until reaching a cavernous room. They suddenly hear another at the distance.

-Hey! It's someone there!-

"Did you hear that!?" Ranma asks to the group.

"Yes." Ragnvald replies.

"Wouldn't that be that Arvel don't-know-what- guy?" Ryoga comments.

"I think it's him." Ugrub agrees.

"Yes! It's him!" Ragnvald confirms.

Ranma tries to adress the voice with a yell. "Hey! Are you Arvel!?"

The voice replies back. "Yes it's me! Help me! I'm trapped in here!"

Trapped with what!? Says Ranma while walking around a corner before seeing the entire room full of spiderweb. "Oh… I see…"

"Quickly! Get me out!" A lanky dark elf, trapped in spiderweb under a portal, says to the group.

Mousse takes a moment to contemplate things. "I wonder where the spiders, that wrapped you in web, are…"

"Spiders? There was only one." Arvel states.

Ragnvald raises an eyebrow at that. "Only one…?"

**Hisssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss**

Ugrub looks up and then he orders to the entire group with a yell. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

A giant spider lands in the middle of the room from above.

"Small spider, isn't it?" Ranma pipes in, being a smart-ass.

Harold just stares at him in disbelief. "What do you mean little!? It's enourmous!"

Ranma frowns at that question. "I was being sarcastic you know?"

"C'mon! Let me out of here!" The dark elf keeps yelling, scared as hell now.

"Have patience, traitor. We will let you down, shortly." Ragnvald tells to his runaway minion.

Arvel begins to tremble when hearing Rangvald voice. "Boss…! Is that you!?"

"Yes and I'm not very happy with your actions." Said Bandit Leader warns in a dangerous tone.

"I'll deal with this." Ranma states, cracking his knuckles.

**Hisssssssssssssssssssssss**

The giant spider tries to bite Ranma, who deftly doges the attack.

"Now is my turn…"

_**Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!**_

Ranma launches a flurry of strikes, hundreds of them, in the span of a second. To the untrained eye, it looked as if he had performed only a single strike. The giant spider simply falls dead as result of the assault.

"Hummmph! Another weakling." Ranma mutters in dissapointment. "When are we going to face someone strong!"

Arvel is wide eyed at the pig-tailed martial artist's feat. "…. You killed that spider with a single hit!"

"Yes, this new friends of ours are really strong." Ragnvald states.

"Wow… Ok then, put me down already!" Arvel pleads pitifully.

Ranma turns towards the blind Chinese weapon user. "Mousse, would you mind…?"

"Feh… it's nothing."

Mousse pulls 2 swords from his sleeves and cuts the web, freeing the dark elf.

"Thank you… But the treasure will be mine! HA HA HA HA HA"

The dark elf runs the hell away from them and deeper into the crypt.

"Damn traitor! Come back in here!" Ragnvald cries after him.

"Quickly! Let's catch him!" Ranma prompts.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

"…. What was that?" Asks a puzzled Ryoga.

The group runs toward the direction of the scream and find Arvel lying dead on the ground at the feet of some Draugrs.

"Damn, poor bastard." Ranma comments with a wince.

"He has it well deserved." Ragnvald says without an ounce of mercy.

Mousse snaps at them irritated at their useless talk. "Save your talk for after we kill these mosters!"

"Right… Hyaaaaaa!" Ranma agrees before launching himself towards the nearest Draugr.

+A few minutes later, after killing the Draugrs+

Ranma adresses the group once more. "OK now, let's look for that claw."

He starts to loot Arvel's body, and soon enough, he finds the claw.

"Ah, here it is!"

"Good, now we can open the door at the end of this tomb." Ugrub exclaims with a nod.

Ryoga suddenly raises his voice. "Wait a second!"

"Yes, what is it?" Ragnvald asks.

"How do you guys know about this last door, if it seems as if you have never passed through these halls before? If you were, all this draugrs will not be standing around." Ryoga points out.

"Yes, and that giant spider would be dead too." Mousse adds.

Ragnvald simply snortes before answering. "We explored these halls months ago, and we used our best and stealthiest scouts to do it in order to avoid triggering the defenses of this crypt."

Ranma begins to ponder on that answer. "You know that has a lot of sense."

"The door is close by, let's keep moving." Ugrub advises.

They keep walking until reaching a long hall with a big stone door with several rotables stone dials in its face and with an indenture in its base, blocking the way

"This is it." Ragnvald declares, stopping in front of the stone door.

"This is strange, there seems to be some animal depictions that look like they can be moved." Mousse says, inspecting the surface of the stone barrier.

"Indeed! It is another puzzle." Ragnvald explains. "But you can only move the depictions by inserting the golden claw on its base and then you must correctly match the images with those of the correct password engraved in the Golden claw and the door will open."

Ranma huffed in disagreement. "Too much work! Ryoga, would you mind?"

"Fine! But I'm not your damn key that you can use on any door that you're too lazy to open yourself!" Ryoga snaps back, irritated.

"Yeah, whatever. Just break it…" Says Ranma, uncaringly.

"(grunt) how I hate you Ranma…" _**Bakusai Tenkestsu**_

The door explodes and when the smoke settles, a large hole is revelead in its place.

Ragnvald is simply left staring, dumbstruck. "….. Well, it seems we can go in."

"Figures, all this trouble for this damn claw, and we didn't even need to use the damn thing." Ranma mutters in indignation.

They enter inside a large cavernous room with a small cascade on a corner, in the middle of the room, atop a stairs, a stone coffin is resting, behind of it, a semicircular wall with some weird words inscribed on the stone is found.

Ragnvald points at something. "Look! Atop that coffin!"

Ranma brings a hand to his brow and squintes his eyes to peer at the distance. "There's a big slab of stone. That must be the dragonstone!"

"The dragonkiller weapon!" Ragnvald declares with awed reverence.

Ranma gets in front of the group and stands in their way to stop them in their tracks, a serious expression onhis face. "Hold it, guys! We must handle this situation carefully…. Mousse, you take it!"

"Huh….!? Wut? Why me!" Complains Mousse, alarmed.

"Because, what if that thing kills anybody who touches it? What if I touch it and it ends up killing me!?" Ranma says.

Mousse is outraged at his insensibility. "Then why Ryoga dosen't do it!?"

"What if he grabs it and breaks it! And the released power ends up killing us all and destroys this crypt?" Ranma retorts.

Mousse lets out a resignated sigh. "Goddammit! How I hate you all!" He pulls out some twezzers and grabs an empty chest lying in the floor, and _very _carefully, grabs the dragonstone with the twezzers and puts it inside the chest, locking it in while the entire group holds their breath waiting for the worse. The chest then disappears between Mousse's robes.

"There! It's done!"

Ranma let's out the breath he was holding. "Woooof! Well I guess that's all, let's get out of…." He was interrupted suddenly as the earth starts to rumble and the lid of the coffin, were the dragonstone was resting, explodes outwards. A new draugr comes out of the coffin, hovering in the air. This new draugr was obviously different than the rest encountered so far, for it was not only floating in the air but he was also was dressed in some kind of ceremonial robes with a shiny armor on top while he was carrying a staff; obviously a mage.

Ranma can only sigh at this new development. "….I saw this coming. Hyaaaa!"

Ranma attacks the Draugr and strikes his torso, sending the undead to the ground. But against all odds, the undead priest rises once more. The pig-tailed martial artist is left agog at that outcome. "What…? What happened? That strike should have killed him!"

"He's wearing a magical armor." Ragnvald coments after assessing the new threat.

"Damn! That's some good armor, I want it!" Ranma exclaims impressed.

The Draugr's magical armor starts craking and then breaks in several pieces.

"What happened?" Ranma asks in surprise.

"… You broke the magical armor." Ragnvald replies, dumbstruck.

Ugrub is just plain astounded at that feat. "I can't believe it! You broke a magical armor with your fists!"

Ranma let's out a pitiful whine as he throws a tantrum. "Ah, dammit! I wanted that armor…."

Ryoga simply becomes irritated at him. "Kill the damn thing, already!"

"Fine, fine, I'll do it. Don't get your panties in a twist."

Ranma uppercuts the Draugr in the jaw and sends his head flying away. The undead priest falls and stays dead once more, he then dustes his hands off. "Well, I believe we should go now."

"Wait! Look over there!" Mousse says, pointing towards the wall with inscriptions at the bottom of the room.

"What?" Ryoga asks.

"The wall! It has something written on it, and it glows!" Mousse observes.

Ranma is amazed and intrigued by that comment. "Really…? Let's take a look."

The 3 approach the wall, the inscriptions glow in intensity more and more, the more they get near and some kind of chant can be heard rising in volume in the background. Until, suddenly! The inscriptions in the wall release a burst of magic that envelops the martial artists for a few seconds, when things dwindle down, the chants can be heard no more and the writing in the wall stops glowing.

"What… was… that!?" Ranma asks confused and frazzled.

"I don't know." Mousse ventures to say.

"What if it was another curse!?" Says an incresingly nervous Ryoga.

Mousse turns back at him in alarm. "What!?"

"I'm just saying, with all the magic floating around in this world it can be a possibility." Ryoga elaborates.

Ranma lets out a nervous gulp. "I hope not."

"Me too." Mousse agrees.

"Well, those writtings were in a language we didn't understand, right?" Ranma inquires.

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, maybe it dosen't count if you can't understand what it says." Ranma hypothises.

Mousse is pensive for a moment. "Mmmph… maybe."

Ryoga agrees with Ranma's train of thought. "Yeah, I believe it's like Ranma says. I mean, _something_, should have already happened by now, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's better not to think about it." Ranma advised.

"Yes, you're right. We should get back with the others, however." Mousse says.

They go back with the bandits and find Ragnvald atop of some stairs.

"Hey friends, look at this!"

Ranma looks up at him. "What's the matter, Rag?"

"Look what I found."The bandit leader shows them a chain hanging out of the rock walls.

Ranma just stares at it, confused. "It's only a chain…"

Ragnvald grins in return. "Not just any chain, behold!" He pulls the chain and the rock in the wall moves revealing a passage.

"A secret passage!" Exclaims Ryoga in surprise.

"Indeed, we should see where it leads." Ragnvald counsels.

Ranma has his doubts, however. "I don't know, what if it leads to a trap?"

"Even if it does, I doubt it would be something you 3 can't easily deal with." The bandit leader replies non-chalantñy

"Well, you're right about that. Ok, let's go take a look." Says Ranma, relentling.

"Follow me then…"

They go through the passage until reaching a small cavernous chamber with a shrine and a chest.

"A shrine?" Ragnvald states.

"To whom?" Ranma inquires.

"I ignore it, but look! There's gold in it!" Says Ragnvald, pointing to a small pile of coins.

"Gold coins!" Ranma goes and takes one of the coins to inspect it.

"You 3 can take them." Ragnvald says.

Ranma turns at him in surprise. "Really? Don't you want then?"

"Not at all, we already found enough while looting this crypt." Ragnvald states, unpreoccupied.

"Ok, as you wish. Let's see how much we got here." Says Ranma as he starts to count the coins, alongside his approaching companions.

+After counting the coins+

"64" Mousse states.

"64 huh? Shall we split them between the 3 of us?" Ranma supplies.

"Yes! I want my share of the loot!" Ryoga says in excitement.

"Me too!" Mousse reinforces.

"Ok then, 64 between 3 is… let's see…" Ranma starts counting with his fingers. "Is… 25 for me, 23 for Ryoga and… 16 for Mousse."

Mousse throws an outraged fit at Ranma's declaration. "Hey! Why you 2 are getting more than me!?"

Ranma turns at him, indignated. "Well, I did the division and this is the result of dividing 64 between 3. The mathematics doesn't lie! Or do you believe you know more than the mathematics." He admonishes.

Mousse backs off, embarassed. "Well, if you used mathematics then I don't see anything wrong."

"Exactly! Now, we better start getting out of here, it's a long trek back to the entrance." Ranma declares.

Ryoga stops them, however. "Wait guys! Look what I found. "He points toward something in front of him. "A lever!"

"A lever! What does it do!?" Ranma inquires.

"There's only one way to know. Pull that lever maestre Ryoga." Ragnvald commands.

"Ok!" Ryoga pulls the lever and another secret door it's revealed.

"A secret passage inside a secret passage?" Ranma states in astonishment.

"That is so…" Mousse began to say.

"Cool!" Ranma supplies.

"I was going to say paranoid, but whatever!"

"And where does it lead?" Ragnvald inquires.

"Let's take a look, shall we?" Ugrub advises.

They follow the passage until finding an exit that leaves them in front of a river behind the mountains.

"A secret exit…" States the Orc.

"Wait a minute! Don't tell me all this time there was a backdoor entrance to this crypt!" Ranma exclaims, dejected.

"Yes, it appears so. But don't get too surprised by it, many, if not all tombs have a secret backdoor exit as a security measure or to avoid setting off the traps that the tomb posses." Ragnvald explains.

"Well, that's good to know then…" Ranma mutters a little miffed; what good that information does for them now.

"I think this is where we part ways my friend." Ragnvald turns towards the pig-tailed martial artist.

Ranma gets out of his funk and replies. "Yeah, I think you're right. We have to get back to Whiterun and deliver the Dragonstone."

"And we must get back to our own and since we already looted all valuables from this crypt; I guess we'll have to go back to one of our main strongholds..." Ragnvald says in thought.

"Well then, I believe this is goodbye for now." Ranma says.

"Take care my friend; I hope our paths cross again in the future." Says Ragnvald, offering his hand.

"Yeah, me too. See ya' around Rag." He shakes hands with the bandit leader.

"Farewell, Ranma." Ragnvald says before returning into the passage.

"Goodbye." Said Ugrub trailing after his boss, follow then by Harold.

"See you later, my friends."

Each group starts to go their respective ways.

"Well, now where should we go?" Ranma asks to his frenemies.

Ugrub stops to call back at them at the distance. "Ah, by the way…"

The 3 turn to look at the orc.

"If you wish to know… The town of Falkreath can be found walking straight over that hill on the other side of the river. You can take a carriage there to take you back to Whiterun."

"Really! Thanks!" Ranma yells at him.

"It's nothing, take care." The orc then walks away.

Ranma turns back to his rivals. "Well, it seems we now know where to go. Let's move."

+One hour later+

"Are we there yet?" Ryoga asks, much to his companions' irritation.

"I don't know, I think so." Ranma responds.

Mousse snaps at him. "You better, we've been walking for more than an hour since we got out of that dump." He complains

"Relax will ya'? I don't think we are far from reaching that town. What was its name again?" Ranma replies.

Mousse thinks for a moment. "I think it was Falkreath…"

"Yeah, that's the one. Anyway, I don't…"

An unnknown voice suddenly interrupts Ranma. "Aha! You 3 are exactly what I was looking for…"

Ryoga begins to look around, startled. "Woah! Who said that?"

Ranma immediately turns suspicious and alert. "I don't know. Show yourself, whoever you are!"

There's a rustle in a nearby bushes. Ranma notices it.

"Aha! You better come out if you know what's good for you." He commands.

A dog of a dark grey pelt appears from out the bushes.

Ryoga lets out a sigh in relief. "It's just a dog."

Ranma is dissapointed at that. "Damn, I thought there was someone on those bushes."

"It dosen't matter. We should look for whoever spoke to us." Mousse tells to them.

Ranma kneels in front of the dog to adress him. "Tell me boy, would you know by any chance who was who spoke to us."

"Yes, it was me!" The dog says back, to the surprise of all.

"Holy crap! This dog just talked!" Ranma exclaims in shock.

"This country is now host to giant flying lizards and two-legged cat-men… And you're surprised by me? Yes, I just talked. And I'm continuing to do so." The dog deadpanned.

Ranma ponders that for a moment. "Ok… maybe you have a point."

"And a very good one." Ryoga adds.

"And I must confess I've seen even weirder things than this back home…" Ranma confess. "Ok, what do you need talking dog?"

"You see, my name is Barbas; and I have a problem I think you 3 can help sort out." The dog explains.

"Barbas… that's a nice name, and what kind of problems can a dog have, that is not fleas?" Ranma points out.

Barbas lets out a fake sarcastic laugh. "Ha…. Ha…. You crack me up so much… For your information, I've never had fleas in my life nor will I ever have them!"

Ranma lifts up his arms in surrender. "Ok, ok, chill out dog… Geez… Very well, tell us your problem then…"

"Well you see. My master and I had a bit of a falling out. We got into an argument and it got rather… heated. He's kicked me out until I find someone who can settle our disagreement. That's where you 3 come in." Barbas says.

"Ah! So we only have to help you in reuniting with your master? Sounds pretty simple, what do you guys think?" Ranma says, turning to the others.

Ryoga shrugs. "I don't mind helping him."

Mousse is not to keen to help the dog, however. "I say we continue on our way back to Whiterun. We still have matters to attend to, so there's no time for us to waste on this."

"Ack, c'mon four-eyes, don't be a party popper. Maybe we could get a reward for doing this." Ranma nudges.

Mousse considers that for a moment. "mmmph… fine! After all, how hard could it be to reunite a dog with its master?"

Ranma beams a smile. "Excellent! Well Barbas, it's official, we are going to help you."

"Thank you." The dog says in appreciation. "Now, since he banished me, Vile's been rather weak. He can't manifest very far from one of his shrines."

Ranma gives a dubious look at hearing that. "Manifest?"

The god keeps speaking on, ignoring what he had said. "I know there's a cult that worships himn at Haemar's shame. We should be able to talk to him there."

Now is Ryoga turn to look dubious. "Cult?"

"If this works out, I'll make sure you 3 are rewarded. Just don't trust any offer he makes you… Ok?" The dog finishes.

Mousse just looks at him in askance. "I'm starting to have a bad feeling about this…"

Ranma too mulls over those words for a moment. "Sounds suspicious alright. Ok, we will not accept any offer from your master. So, which direction it is?"

"Ah, just follow me." Barbas says before taking off.

The trio begins to follow the dog through the woods.

"Ranma, don't you think it suspicious what the dog said to us?" Ryoga calls to his fellow rival.

"Yeah, who abandons and gets rid of a dog who can speak. I mean how cool is that, no?" Ranma replies, puzzled.

"I don't think Hibiki was referring to that." Mousse interjects. "I believe he's talking about that cult thing and the manifestation issue."

"Ahhh! That! Pfffft! don't worry about it; they must be nothing more than just a bunch of weirdoes, nothing to lose our cool for. Besides, it's unlikely that they could prove any threat to us." Ranma says unconcerned.

"Well… Yes, you're right about that." Mousse acquiesces .

"And he also told us that there's going to be a reward if we help him. So I say its worth to go and take a look despite everything, don't you think?" Ranma asks to his companions.

"Yes, it is. Ok then, let's move on." Ryoga says in agreement.

+2 hours later+

Ryoga is añready at the end of his rope, not that he had much of that to begin with. "Damnit! We've been walking for several hours now! How far is it!?"

"We're almost there… Look! There it is!" The dog points to a cave.

They group gets close to the cave entrance.

"Here it is?" Ranma asks, puzzled.

"Yes, here it is." Barbas confirms.

Ryoga raises an eyebrow at him. "You live in a cave?"

"Hey! I say nothing bad about your house, so you better not say anything about mine!" The dog snaps back.

"Calm down you 2, will ya'?" Ranma admonishes.

Barbas decides to drop the issue for the moment. "Yeah, whatever. Follow me."

They enter the cave.

Ranma turns towards the dog. "So, what's your master name, Barbas?"

"His name is Clavicus-Vile."

"Clavicule what?" Ranma asks, confused.

"Clavicus-Vile!" Barks the dog in exasperation.

"That's some weird-ass name if you ask me." Ranma mutters under his breath.

The dog suddenly stops in his tracks, putting the entire group in alarm.

"Hold on!"

"What?" Ranma inquires.

The dog says nothing and moves on a specific direction, the 3 martial artists follow him cautiosly. They eventually catch with the canine behind some rocks.

"Look over there!" Barbas points out with his head.

The trio takes a peek from behind the rocks and managed to see a woman in black robes carrying a bow, but she's simply standing idly on her spot with a vacant gaze on her face.

"Who is she?" Ranma asks.

"She must be one of those vampires that come in here from time to time in search of shelter." Barbas answers.

Naturally that answer wasn't something that the trio of martial artists was expecting. "VAMPIRES!" The 3 of them exclaim.

"Yes, those blood-suckers sometimes come in here to seek shelter from the sun or to ask for favors to my master." Barbas explains.

"Damn! …So that girl is a vampire?" Ranma asks, pointing at the robed woman.

Barbas ventures to takea look for himself. "Mmmph… For the lack of red eyes, I would say she must be one of their servants…"

"Servant, huh? You think we can help her by convincing her of leaving her masters?" Ranma inquires at the dog.

"Of course not! Don't you know that the servants of vampires have their mind broken to shreds?" Barbas snaps at him.

Ranma is simply left astounded by that answer. "What!?"

"It's true! The vampires tend to use their mind control magics to turn their victims into their faithful servants that will do everything to fullfill their master's every single whim." The dog explains.

"That's horrible! Can't we do anything to save them!?" Ranma demands in shock.

Barbas racks his brain for a moment. "Well, if the spell has less than 3 days from being casted, then yes. But you'll have to kill the vampire who casted the spell."

"And if it has more than 3 days from being casted?" Mousse asks.

"If it has more than 3 days, then the spell becomes permanent and not even the death of the vampire who casted it would break the hold over the victim. They will remain an empty husk who would then become the property and plaything of any other vampire who comes along." Barbas answers, much to the horror of the 3 martial artists.

"Are you telling me there's nothing I can do to save them!?" An angry Ranma yells back at the dog in impotency and frustration.

Barbas, once more, takes a moment to think on his answer. "Well… there's one way…"

"Really? Tell me!" Ranma demands, a shimer of hope growing inside him.

It was quickly squashed by the cold hard reality, however. "A quick death to put the poor bastard out of his misery."

"You mean kill them!" Ranma retorted in alarm.

"Yes, kill them… There's nothing else that can be done for them…" The dog said, sadly.

…

Mousse, in an uncharacteristical show of support, tries to reassure Ranma. "Saotome, if you want, I can take care of the servants while you and Hibiki deal with the vampires… I know this must be very hard for you since we found ourselves in a less than ideal situation, so I'll volunter to carry this task…."

Ranma shakes his head and rejects the offer. "No! I have to do it! I have to see this through! My honor as a martial artist dictates that I must help the innocent and… if the only way to help them is trough a quick death… then I'll do it."

"Excellent!" The dog exclaimed. "Because they already know we are here and they're coming this way!" He said pointing in front of them at the mob of brainless slaves rushing towards them.

Ranma expression suddenly turned grimly serious. "I'm on it."

Ranma faces the Vampires Servants by himself, and to the best of his skills, he tries to give them a quick death as painless as possible. Wheter by breaking their neck with a single punch or kick, or using his Yama Sen-Ken to create vacuum blades to decapitate his attackers. After a couple of minutes, the painful ordeal is done.

"….. Let's move."

"Wait Ranma…" Ryoga calls at him.

"What is it!?" Snaps back the pig-tailed martial artist.

"Remember there are vampires inside this cave." Ryoga reminded.

It took a moment for Ranma to recognize what Ryoga was worried about. "You're right. We are going to need stakes. You have any?"

"No."

"What about you Mousse?" Ranma asks turning towards the blind weapon user.

"Well… I have these sharpened metal poles, works the same, no?" Mousse says pulling out said poles from his sleeve.

Ranma thinks about it briefly. "Maybe… but we better not risk it, let's go back outside and cut a tree down to make some stakes."

"Ok" Ryoga agrees.

+One tree and 220 stakes later+

"You're ready now?" Barbas asks to the trio.

"Yeah" Ranma answers.

Followed by Ryoga. "The same."

And finally Mousse. "I was ready since before all this."

"Well let's go get them then; I'm starting to get bored." Barbas drawled.

A look of determination fell upon Ranma. " Ok; let's kill those creeps!"

+Time skip+

In the deppest bowels of the cave, the vampire lord in charge of this little coterie was busy making preparations for a dark ritual. He was so engrossed in his work, that he was so utterly surprised when he felt a sharp horrible pain ripping through his back and out from his chest.

"Aaaaaarrrghhhh, BY SITHIS!" Screams the old Vampire in agony.

"Die Monster!" Ranma yells, appearing suddenly from behind the Vampire.

The Vampire Lord begins to bleed from the mouth as his strenght leaves him. "(Cof) (Cof) Ack! You'll pay… for this... (Cof) Mortal… AAAAARRRRRRRRGHHHH!"

The vampire falls dead.

Ranma let's out a tired sight, his gruesome ordeal finished. "Fiuuuuu! That was the last one. Now what?"

Barbas didn't wasted time to answer that question. "This way! Look! Here's my master!"

The dog leads them to the statue of a young satir, Ranma let's out a sweatdrop at seeing the marble figure. "Errr… Barbas… This is a statue…"

"Of course it is!" The dog snaps back. "This is the one of the statues in honor of my master Clavicus-Vile; you can use it to speak to him. C'mon try saying something." He prompts.

"Really… are you sure?" Ranma inquired, skeptic.

" Just speak to him." Barbas barked, irritated.

"Alright… if you say so… Ahem… Can I ask you a favor mister Clavicus-Vile?" Says Ranma, leaning towards the statue.

"Ranma, stop doing that! Don't you see this is crazy! You're talking to a statue…" Ryoga admonishes.

Ranma concedes his point and snortes. "Pfffttt! I knew this was getting weird. Barbas! Stop playing around and tell us where is your…"

"By all means, speak!" A voice coming from the statue answers.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD! That thing speaks!" Exclaims Ryoga in shock.

"Yes he does, now shut up and let him talk." Barbas admonishes.

The voice, that could only belong to the daedric prince Clavicus-Vile, kept speaking. "Let's hear what you want. It's the least I could do, since you already helped me grant one final wish for my last worshippers…"

"Last worshippers? You mean these guys?" Ranma asks, pointing at the vampire's remains "And what do you mean by _last wish_?"

"Well you see… They were suffering from vampirism…" The voice of Clavicus-Vile explains.

"Yeah, we could tell." Ryoga snarks sarcastically.

Ranma lets out an angry outburst at the mention of the vampires. "Monsters! But anyway, go on…"

"Well they begged me for a cure. Then you lot came and ended their misery! I couldn't had planned it better myself."

"The only ones who I put out of their misery were the servants; these creatures I killed them for being abominations against nature." Ranma states, his mood a little heated-up.

"And it was pretty entertaining to watch!" Clavicus-Vile replied with amusement, then he moved to another subject. "So, what's your heart's desire? What kind of deal can we strike?"

Ranma just raised an eyebrow in puzzlement. "My heart's desire? Nah! We are just here because Barbas asked us to help him in reuniting with you." He said, pointing at said dog.

Clavicus-vile mood changed drastically at the mention of Barbas. "Ugh! That insufferable pup? Forget it! Request denied. No deal."

Ranma becomes unhappy at that answer. "Hey, why you say that?"

"I'm glad to be rid of him. Even if it does mean that I'm stuck in this pitiful shrine in the back end of… nowhere…" The shapeless voice trailed off.

"You don't sound too convinced about it." Ranma observed.

"Well… Perhaps there is a way he could earn his place back at my side, maybe but no promises." Clavicus-Vile mentioned.

Ranma decided to take the bait. "Very well, what is it then?"

"There's an axe. An incredibly powerful axe, an axe powerful enough for me to have a quite bit of fun, indeed…" Clavicus-Vile explained.

…

Ranma refrained from commenting.

Clavicus-Vile kept speaking. "If you bring it to me, I'll grant you my boon. No strings attached. No messy surprises. At least, not for you."

"And where can we find this axe?" The water-cursed boy asked.

"As I recall, it's resting in Rimerock Burrow. Barbas can lead you right to it. The little mutt might earn his place back at my side…"

Ranma remained quiet again, and then at length spoke to Barbas. "… Barbas, can you tell me something?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"Do you really wish to be back with this guy?" Ranma questioned.

"Yes, why do you ask?" The dog replied, a little surprised by that question.

"Well, I don't know if you have realized it already, but he's an asshole…" Ranma pointed out in his usal blunt and crass manner.

"Hey! What did you just said about me!?" Clavicus-Vile replied, obviously insulted.

Ranma ignored him and kept adressing the dog. "I can clearly tell he treats you bad. I mean, he got rid of you, a talking dog! What kind of imbecile does that!?"

Barbas had to agree on that point. "Well… It's true that he's always calling me by names… and that every time we meet someone new, he… ummm… asks them to kill me... They always say no, but still, it's pretty disconcerting that he asks them in the first place. Well, you're right, he's an asshole. But this is still my home nonetheless; I can't abandon him because otherwise, where would I live? I'm not a great and powerful warrior, I'm just a dog. A dog with some Daedra powers that allow me to never die of old age, be able to talk, never need to eat and being impervious to physical damage, but that's it! That dosen't stops any of those flying lizards from coming around, picking me up and eating me! So where would I go?"

"Well… with us. I mean… if you want to…" Ranma offered a little coy.

"You want to take me with you?" Barbas asked in surprise.

Ryoga was aghast by thad declaration. "Ranma!"

"Saotome, what are you doing?" Mousse cringed testily.

"Shut up!" Ranma tells to his companions before turning back to Barbas. "Well I must confess we have no home of our own at the moment, but you could acompany us in our travels if you want…"

"Really!? Why?" Says a suddenly hopeful Barbas.

"Well for starters…" Ranma begins to count with his fingers.

1.- You are a talking dog!

2.- I kinda like you.

3.- We need someone who knows his way around here in Skyrim since we are pretty new to the place, and…

4.- You're a talking dog! What else can I say!

"Well if you insist that much, then fine! I'll go with you 3…" Barbas acquiesced.

"Good! Then let's go!" Says Ranma, pleased with himself.

"Now, wait a second…" Clavicus-Vile calls back to stop them.

Ranma turns at him a bit miffed. "Ugh… what do you want?"

"I might not like that mutt very much, but he's still being my property and I will not allow you to take him with you." The statue said.

Ranma's patience simply worned off and he reacted. "Argh! Shut up already! Now you pissed me off. Ryoga! Do me a favor and blow him to bits!"

"Blow him to bits?" Barbas asked puzzled.

Ryoga cracked his knuckles. "Sure, why not?" _**Bakusai Tenkestsu!**_

He touches the statue with his finger.

But all it causes id Clavicus-Vile to enter in a sarcastic rant. "Ouch! You touched me! Look how I crumble to bits in pain, Ow, Ow, Ow. Please, no more, Oh! So powerful warr…"

The statue suddenly explodes in a thousand bits.

_**BROOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**_

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!

"I'm done." Says Ryoga dusting his hands off.

Barbas is left awestruck at such destructive feat. "You… blew up the shrine of a Daedra prince! That was… SO AWESOME!"

"Thanks!"

"Let's get out of here. I've had enough of talking to inanimated objects to last me a lifetime." Ranma said, turning back in search of the exit.

+Once they get outside and out of the cave+

"Well then, where are we going now?" The recently _liberated _dog inquires.

"We are going to Falkreath, from there we can take a carriage to take us to Whiterun." Ranma stated with a carefree pace.

Barbas nodded. "Sounds good. Falkreath is a couple of hours from here at walking distance. I'll lead you guys there."

Ranma began dreading to dread the notion of more hours of walking. "A couple of hours? Dammit!"

+1 hour 45 minutes later+

Mousse was fed up of walking through the woods and made his displeasure be known. "Saotome! You seriously need to stop from trying to help every single down-on-his-luck moron we come across; otherwise we're never going to get anything done!"

"Fine, fine. Next time I'm going to make sure to ask if there's a reward, what exactly it is, and how far our destination will be to see if it will be worth our time to lend out help. There, you're happy now!?" Ranma replied.

"Very… because this time we got nothing as reward." Mousse stated.

Ranma turned to give him a look. "What are you talking about? We got a talking dog."

Now it was Barbas who was giving Barbas a look. "Got? You practically stole me after destroying one of the shrines of my former master."

"Got, stole, same difference." Said Ranma in dismissal. "Anyway, Barbas you told us that your former master was a Daedra prince. Exactly what does that mean? Is he going to be the next ruler of a country or something?"

"Errr… Not exactly… You see, a Daedra Prince is a powerful entity from the dimension of Oblivion that…" The dog began to explain.

Ryoga interrupts by pointing out at the distance. "Hey, look! I can see a town over there! Would that be Falkreath?"

"Is not as big as Whiterun." Ranma mentions, unimpressed.

"Hey! Pay attention to what I'm saying!" Barbas angrily barks at them.

-Sorry-

Barbas accepts the apologies and moves on. "Anyway, as I was saying. A Daedra Prince is an entity from the dimenson of Oblivion whose power is equal, if not superior, to that of a god."

Ranma for a moment begins to remember his battle against Saffron and how horribly outmatched he was during that encounter.

He nervously tugs at his collar. "(Gulp) Powers equal to that of a god…"

"Yes, but in this moment he must be pretty weakened after the destruction of his shrine and my separation from him, but give or take a few centuries and I'm sure he will recover; that dosen't mean he is not going to try to take revenge on you 3 for what you did to him." Barbas explains.

Ranma then turns to Ryoga and begins to clap. "Congratulations, Ryoga."

"What!? What did I do?" The pig cursed boy turns in confusion.

"You and your stupid finger brought the ire of a god upon us. Now we're going to be even more cursed than what we currently are now." Ranma wails.

Ryoga temper begins to rise. "What are you talking about? It was your idea!"

"I'm sorry, but if I remember correctly, it was you who destroyed that statue." Ranma retorts, unforgiving.

"BECAUSE YOU TOLD ME TO DO IT!" Replies a pissed-off Ryoga.

"So, it's all my fault…?" Ranma says, uncaringly.

"YES!"

Ranma snortes and points at Rypga. "Pffft! No is not. This is all _**your**_ fault. So don't try to pin this on me, P-chan."

A steaming Ryoga finally loses his patience and prepares to launch himself at Ranma. "Grrr… DIE! RANMA!"

Ryoga attacks the pig-tailed martial artist who dodges and they began one of their usual, and very destructive, figths. Because they are at the outskirts of Falkreath, it dosen't take much time to attract the attention of the city guards.

"Hey, you 2! Stop figthing and breaking stuff or we'll have to arrest you…" Says and approaching guard.

Ranma & Ryoga are momentarily distracted from their combat and turn at the guard. "SHUT UP!"

They both punch the guard in his helmeted face and send him crashing into a tree.

Another guard nearby raises the alarm after witnessing that blatant assault to an officer. "Quick! These 2 law-breakers assaulted a guard! Arrest them!"

Guards start to swarm the place. Ryoga and Ranma don't pay them any attention and continue fighting.

"Take this Ranma!" _**Bakusai Tenkestsu**_**!**

Ryoga uses his point breaking technique on the ground to launch an assault at Ranma, who dodges by simply jumping above the attack. The technique hits 3 guards that were behind Ranma, however.

AAAAHHHHH!

UGH!

OH! MY ARM!

MY KNEE!

Ranma mocking as he evades the wave of destruction. "Ha! What a lousy aim, P-chan!"

"Shut up, Ranma!" Ryoga shouts back in anger before jumping after the pigtailed martial artist.

They countinue figthing like psychos, uncaring of the mounting collateral property damage and medical bills, since the guards usually got themselves caught in the attacks and injured as result.

"So! you're ready to give up, porkchops?" Ranma taunts with an arrogant smirk.

"NEVER! HYAAAA!" Ryoga yells before continuing his assault

Barbas is left simply staring, commenting at the unfolding disaster. "You know; I find all this wanton destruction and reckless endangerment of others to be oddly amusing for some reason." He turns towards Mousse. "So what's your excuse then?"

Mousse just gives the dog a puzzled look. "My excuse? What you mean?"

"Yeah, what's your excuse for not doing anything to stop them?" The dog inquires.

"And end up beaten like all these guards! You're crazy if you think I'm going to get in the way between those 2 wackos." Mousse states with a snort.

"You know; this is pretty awesome… Ouch! Did you see how that guard got his arm broken in 4 places? Ha! Poor bastard!" The dog says in delight.

They kept figthing for another 10 minutes, in that time the entire city guard of Falkreath ends up getting beaten for trying to stop those 2. The fight moves outside the city and towards a lumber mill at the side of the river. Finally after a while, there's a pause in the battle and Ryoga is left wheezing on his feet.

(Huff) (Puff) (Huff) (Puff)

"Tired already, P-chan?" Asks Ranma snidely

"(Huff) it's not that (Puff) I'm just getting hungry." Says Ryoga, finally lowering his fists.

"Yeah, me too. Let's take a lunch break!" The pigtailed martial artist agrees.

Mousse appears and walks towards the 2 rivals. "Well, that's enough you 2. It's time to go now."

Barbas lets out a dissapointed whine. "Awwwww! But I wanted to see who would win."

"Well you'll have to wait for next time then." Mousse says with a shrug.

"Pfffft! And just when it was starting to get interesting…" Barbas complains with a raspberry.

"Well if you really want to know who would have won. I'm telling you, right now, that would be me; since I always win every time I fight against these guys." Ranma boasts arrogantly.

Obviously, that didn't set well with Ryoga.

"Shut up Ranma! Now you pissed me off again! Take this!"

And so Ryoga starts to attack Ranma once more, much to Mousse's chagrin and Barbas's delight.

"That's enough you 2!" Mousse snaps at both of them, miffed.

"Take this Ryoga!"

Ranma kicks Ryoga in the stomach and send hims flying towards Mousse.

"AAAAAH!" Screams an airborne Ryoga.

"Shit! No, wait!"

Both martial artists crash against each other and end up falling into the river.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

_**SPLASH!**_

Bweee! Bweee!

Quack!

Barbas is gob-smacked after seeing both martial artists change at the contact of water. "…. What in the name of Dagon just happened!?"

Ranma answered non-chalantly. "Ah, nothing it's just…"

Bweee!

_**CHOMP!**_

AAAAAAARGH!

_**SPLASH!**_

P-chan jumps and bites Ranma in the leg, making him stumble and fall into the water too. He gets back up again transformed in his girl side.

"AH! GODDAMN YOU P-CHAN!"

Barbas just deadpanns. "I ask you again, what just happened!?"

"Nothing! It's just a curse." Ranma replies cassualy as she squezzes her shirt to get the water out.

"A curse?"

"Yup."

"What a weird curse if you ask me, But I've seen worse." The dog comments with a shake of his head.

Ranma let's out a sigh. "Well, I guess it's best if we take the carriage towards Whiterun now. Or do you 2 have something to say…" She asks turning towards her companions turned animals.

Bwe…

Quack…

"That's what I thought. Well then, let's go Barbas."

"Errr… I don't think is going to be as simple as that…" Barbas trails off.

"What? Why you say that?" Ranma aks, puzzled.

"Well… we can't exactly take the carriage anymore…" The Dog comments.

"Why not!?" Ranma remarks in surprise.

Barbas just gives him an impish grin. "Ha! Ha! Just look behind you."

Ranma does so, and sees all the mess caused by his fight with Ryoga. Guards strewn around and lying beaten in the ground everywhere, a trail of destruction running through the middle of the woods, trees rooted out or cut down where they stood and in the distance, smoke rising from the town of Falkreath.

Ranma is left flabbergasted by the scene of destruction. "What the…? Who the hell did this!?"

Barbas just gives him an incredulous look. "What do you mean who!? _**You**_ did it!"

Ranma is shocked at that statement. "WHAT!? But… I don't remember doing all this…"

"You don't… but they do" Barbas says pointing at the guards.

-BY TALOS! SOMEBODY HELP US!-

-AAAAAH! AAAAAH! I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS! WHY I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!?-

- I CAN SEE SOVNGARDE! IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL! ANCESTORS I'M COMING!-

All that Ranma could do was sweatdrop at the scene. "… So… How are we supposed to go now?"

"By walking of course." Barbas supplied.

"DAMN IT!"

+1 hour later+

Ranma and Co. manage to get back to Riverwood. They approach Alvor's house and knock at the door. Alvor is the one who answers their summonings.

"Good Evening!" Ranma greets.

"Good evening to you too, young damsel. What bussiness brings you to my door at this hour? If you come seeking for a smith then I'm sorry, but the forge is already close for today, maybe you should try coming back tomorrow" Says Alvor, after seeing Ranma's girl side.

"Yes I know that. I only wish to know if you can let me use your bathroom." Replies Ranma carefreely.

That answer seriously caught Alvor off guard. He gives an incredulous look at the Red-headed girl. "And why should I let a strange girl, that I just met, make use of my bathroom?"

"Hey, you know us Alvor. It's us Ranma." The girl said, pointing at herself. "Ryoga." Points at piglet. "And Mousse." Points at duck.

Alvor is obviously skeptic at that claim. "Right… and I am the emperor of Tamriel."

"Hey, it's true!" Ranma snaps back, offended.

"Please!" Exclaims an unamused Alvor. "I know Ranma, Ryoga and Mousse personally and they are great warriors. You're just some crazy girl accompanied by a duck, a piglet and a dog."

Now Ranma is seriously at the end of her rope. "Hey, I'm serious. We look like this because of a curse!"

"Aha…!"

A vexed Ranma bellows. "What you don't believe us!?" She turns towards the dog. "Barbas, tell him it's true!"

"Yes, it's true. I saw that curse at work with my own eyes." The dog replies.

Alvor is left flabbergasted at hearing the dog answer back. "What…? Did the dog just talked?"

"Yes, we found him at the outskirts of Falkreath." Ranma states plainly.

"Yeah, they took me with them after insulting and breaking the statue of my former master." The dog explains.

"And who was your former master?" Alvor inquires.

"Clavicus-Vile!" Was the dog simple answer.

Alvor was immediatly astounded by that statement. "A Daedra Prince! If that's the case, then I'm not surprised you got yourselves cursed from taking something from him."

"Nope, this curse we already had it on us, way before setting foot here on Skyrim." Ranma replies non-chalantly.

"Really!?" Alvor asks in surprise.

"Yup, just lends us some warm water and we'll show you how it works." Ranma states with a nod.

Alvor thinks about it for a moment. "…mmmph… Very well, come in. But I'm warning you, if this is some kind of trick, I'll personally send you to Sovngarde."

"Understood." Ranma replies chirply.

+One kettle of warm water later+

"See, what I told you. It was really us the whole time." A cheeky Ranma says to an agoged Alvor.

"I ask you to forgive me for doubting you. I was just being cautious since you never know in these times we live on." The nord says humblily to the martial artist.

"Don't sweat it, we understand." Says Ranma in dismissal.

"But I just have a question."

"Which is?" Ryoga inquires.

"How is that you got cursed? Did you enrage a mage? A Daedra? Or you botched a spell?" Alvor wondered.

Ranma dismissed those ideas with a wave of his hands. "Nothing like that, we just fell on some magical cursed springs."

"Cursed springs?" Alvor asks, puzzled.

Ranma replies with a nod. "Yes, it's a place filled with many ponds where many people and creatures have drown and if you fall in any of them, you are cursed by transforming in the last thing that drowned in there every time you're splashed with cold water. Warm water reverses the effect and transforms you back to your original form."

"I see… What an odd curse, but I know of worse curses like those casted by the Daedra Prince Sheogorath." Alvor comments through his musings.

"Aye! The curses of Sheogorath are among the most terrible in existence." Barbas agrees.

"Well, since this entire situation has been settled. Why don't you stay for dinner?" Alvor offers.

Ranma beams, perking at that. "Ah, thank you."

_**Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmph.**_

Before his stomach growls in hunger. "I mean, if it is not much trouble…"

"Of course not. Is the least I can do for having doubt on your word." Alvor supplies.

"Well, if that's the case. I don't see why we couldn't accept." Ranma happily replies.

+1 hour later+

"(:Chomp:) And well… (:Chomp:) That's what happened (:Chomp:)" Ranma says, retelling his latest adventure.

"I can't believe you became friends with the bandits camping up there in the mountain, insulted a Daedra Prince in his face and leaved unconcious the entire garrison of Falkreath!" Said an awestrucked Alvor.

"Well, the last thing we didn't intend to, it just happened." Ranma stated with a shrug.

"Still, your adventures are nothing short of incredible." Alvor reiterates.

"Ah! It's nothing, really." Ranma blushes.

"No, I mean it. They are truly something marvelous to hear, deserving to be carved in the halls of Sovngarde."

Ranma is heavily embarassed by Alvor's words. "He, He, you're too kind. Anyway, we have to go already; we still have to deliver the Dragonstone back to Farengar."

"Yes, of course. You have an important mission to complete; I'll stop taking any more of your time then. Have a safe travel my friends. Oh, and you can take the leftovers with you in case you grow hungry while on the road…" Alvor offers to the trio.

"We'll do! Thanks for putting up with us again, Alvor." Ranma says with a grin.

"It is no problem, remember; you'll be always welcome in here."

"Bye, bye…" Ryoga waves his goodbye.

"Let's go already, the sun it's starting to set out there." Mousse complained, irritated.

"Fine, fine. Stop nagging already Donald, we're going. See ya' around Alvor." Says Ranma waving a goodbye.

"Take care and have a safe journey my friends…" Were Alvor final words before the group departure.

The group leaves Alvor's house, only to find a small altercation going outside. A woman was seeing leaving the nearby general goods store, seemingly in a little argument with the owner.

"I'm telling you Lucan, I'm going to recover that claw and teach a lesson to those bandits and there's nothing you can do to stop." The woman says to the man with finality.

"Stop this nonsense Camilla, those bandits are dangerous, you're going to get yourself killed. That Golden Claw is not worth enough for you to go forsaking your life about." The man, Lucan, says back to the woman with alarmed concern.

Ranma hearing what the commotion was all about, couldn't help from barging in. "Excuse me, are you looking for a Golden Claw?"

The woman, Camilla, is mildly startled by Ranma butting in their conversation. "Ye… Yes, stranger. My brother's store was recently robbed by bandits and they took a valuable Golden Claw that has been in our family for generations. We know where the scoundrels are hiding, but my useless brother doesn't have the courage to stand up to them and retrieve the claw."

"You mean this claw?" Says Ranma as he brings forth the Golden Claw to show it.

Camilla just stares in surprised at the displayed relic. "Yes, that is the claw (Grabs the claw) Where did you get it, stranger?"

"Oh, well it turned out these bandits you're talking about are actually very nice people. They helped us in a little excursion we made to some nearby ruins; they just needed the claw to open some old door that was blocking the way. But it was not necessary in the end, so we keep it with us." Ranma explains.

"Thank you for your help stranger. Is there something we could do to repay this kindness?" Camilla asks in happiness.

Ranma mulls on his answer for a moment. "Well… do you have any maps of Skyrim? Me and my friends just recently arrived in this country and there's not much things we know about its geography and such."

"Certainly stranger, we will be happy to help you, if you and your friends are kind enough to follow me into my shop." Lucan offers placidly.

"The name's Ranma."

"My name is Lucan Valerius and this is my sister Camilla." Lucan said motioning towards his sister.

"It's a pleasure."

After following the Valerius siblings into the shop and obtaining a map, the group sets off back towards Whiterun at a relaxed pace. The small trip was pretty uneventful and after one hour of travel they managed to reach the walled city. Barbas began to comment once they set foot inside the city.

"Mmmph… that's strange…"

Ranma stopped in his tracks, curious at the dog's tone of confusion. He saw the canine peering at their surroundings with inquisitiveness. "What is it Barbas? Are you not fond of cities? Or is this your first time in Whiterun?"

"No, is not that. I've been in Whiterun several times before, and that's what strikes me as odd. Because every time I've visited, the city has always been brimming with guards, not like now, were I cannot see a single guard in any direction I glance at. I wonder what happened with all the guards!" The dog wonders in confusion.

Ranma coughs in his hand surrespstitously. "Well, who knows? A dragon could have attacked the town and eat them all. Or they died in the war. There's supposed to be a civil war going on in this country, now that I remember. So maybe the number of guards is low right now because of it."

Barbas turns at the pigtailed martial artirts with urgency. "But Ranma! If Skyrim is indeed in the middle of a war, then now more than ever, there should be guards patroling the streets of Whiterun. Cities like this are important tactical and strategical locations to any invading army. The fact there isn't any worries me."

"Err… Who cares anyways? It's not like it affects us in any way. Let's better keep moving, we still have to deliver the Dragonstone." Says Ranma changing the conversation.

They make their way towards Dragonsreach and find Farengar in his study. Ranma calls their arrival in a pretty noisy and rambuctious fashion.

"YO! We're back already! And we bring with us the Dragonstone that was used to kill Dragons!"

Farengar is left utterly flabbergasted by that statement and can only gape in disbelief. "Wut!? The stone kills Dragons!? I didn't know that! How is that even possible?"

"What!? Isn't it that why you sent us for it in the first place? To look for a weapon to be able to kill all the dragons." Says Ranma in confusion, pausing for a moment.

"No, I never told you anything of the sort. I sent you for the Dragonstone because it contains a lot of the ancient Dragon lore and I thought I might find some clue that could help us defeat the dragons in it!" Farengar replies in exasperation.

"So this rock doesn't do anything!? It's just a common rock! And we wasted a whole day looking for the thing, Useless!" Says Ranma feeling down in dissapointment.

Ryoga gets pissed at that revelation. "Man! What a waste of time! This is your fault Ranma, you told us that stone was used to kill dragons."

"Hey, don't blame me. I wasn't the one who came up with that idea. It is Mousse's fault." Says Ranma dumping all responsibility over the duck cursed wapon wielder.

"What! Don't try to pin this on me, Ranma!" Mousse snaps back in indignation.

Farengar rolls his eyes at their antics. "Yeah, whatever. Anyway, thanks for bringing me the dragonstone. Also, Irileth was looking for you 3, It appears a dragon has been spotted near Whiterun and she want to enlist you all to help her in dealing with this threath."

Ranma stares at the court mage cluelessly. "Who?"

"You know. Irileth, the Jarl's Housecarl. The dark elf that's under his service." Farengar explains.

(-_-) …..

"The dark skinned, red-haired woman that you and your friends beat up alongside the Jarl when you tried to first enter Whiterun!" Farengar exclaims, irked.

"Ah! Her! Now I remember her, so old Irileth wishes our help to kill a dragon?" Ranma says finally remembering the dark elf woman that he had beaten alongside the Jarl.

Farengar just let a long tired sigh. "Yes, now go find her. The situation sounded quite serious, so you shouldn't be wasting any time fooling around."

Barbas turns around and points at Ranma accusingly. "Aha! So it was you who took care of all the guards in Whiterun. I suspected as much, Man! You sure like to go around beating people up, and here I thought that only Falkreath was the only city where you got all medieval on the entire collective ass of the whole city watch."

(o_0) …

"….. Did that dog just talked!?" Farengar asks mindboggled.

Ranma just replies with a shrug. "Magical dog, not important. Anyway, we should go and try to find Irileth. See you around, Farengar."

The group starts looking for Irileth inside Dragonsreach and found her coming down from the stairs to the second floor.

"There you are idiots! Come with me, I have a mission for you all." The dark elf woman calls to the trio.

"Hey Irileth, What's up? What you want us for?" Asks Ranma, approaching with a relaxed posture.

"Shut up, I don't want to hear your voice. Just listen! We've received word that a dragon has been spotted around the south watchtower and we don't know what has happened to our men stationed in there, so we need to go and check it out for any danger." The dark elf woman explains.

Ryoga can't help but make a crass, ignorant comment at that. "Why do we must go and do that! Can't you people do it instead?"

Irileth simply fumes at him, trying to rein her anger. "We could go and check it out ourselves. But thanks to 3 idiots, who shall remain nameless, who beat up our entire city guard, we have no one left to defend the city. So it falls to you, morons, to deal with this crisis."

"Ok fine, well do it. Just tell us what to do." Says Ranma figuring it will make the dark woman to shut her mouth if they accepted the mission.

"Just meet me at the city gates when you're ready, and from there we'll head to the watchtower. Don't be late! I'll try to collect all the help I can for this mission." Irileth commands.

And with that the dark elf departed. Leaving the trio and dog to their own devices and withouth any kind of adult supervision, which in retrospective, was a terrible lapse in judgement. Luckily for all, they were in a hurry.

"Right! We better start moving, guys. That Dragon ain't going to kill itself you know." Said Ranma, turning to his companions.

The group made his way to the rendevouz point and waited for Irileth to catch up with them. She arrived with 5 other guards who looked quite nervouz to be around the trio of martial artists.

"Good, you're here. Let us go now to the watchtower and see how our men in there are faring." The dark elf woman says without preamble.

Ranma takes a look at the guards supporting them for this mission and dosen't like what he sees. "Is this all the men you could get? If there is dragon, I don't think that 5 men will be enough to kill it. I was in Helgen, you know. I saw how a single dragon destroyed the entire town and the whole army stationed in there alongside the city watch."

Irileth snaps at him and fumes. "This is all we have! These are the last 5 able-bodied guards we have ready for combat. We could have more to spare certainly, if you and your friends hadn't beat up the whole garrison. But as it is, this all we can get. So by Azura, you 3 better don't get anywhere near them! I don't want to lose the last five guards we have in the entire city because you idiots injured them too."

"Ok, Ok, fine! We'll keep our distance. Chill out woman, Sheesh! We better start going already and deal with that dragon." Says Ranma, backing down.

"Agreed."

Barbas can't help but make a sarcastic comment at their current situation. "Well that's just peachy. This just exactly what I wanted to do, go in search of an overgrown flying lizard with bad attitude that could eat me like a snack without having no way whatsoever of defending myself against him. Oh, Joy of joys. "

Irileth just stares at Barbas dumbly.

(-_-) ….

"Did that dog just talked!?"

"Magical Dog. Just ignore it." Ranma says.

Irileth just shakes her head and decides is pointless trying to understand the 3 morons. "Whatever. Just go to the city gates and don't be late!"

They made their way southwest towards the watchtower. The night was chilly and a feeling of opression permeated the air. They soon discovered the surrounding fields to the tower on fire and the tower too, burning and in shambles. Pieces of masonery strewn everywhere and large chunks of the tower that had crashed on the ground.

Irileth gets fully alert after seeing the dragon's handiwork. "No signs of any dragon right now, but it sure looks like he's been here. I know it looks bad, but we got to figure out what happened. And if that dragon is still skulking around somewhere, spread out and look for survivors. We need to know what we're dealing with."

Ranma turns towards his companions. "Well guys, you heard the lady. Let's check the place out."

The group approaches the tower in search for survivors. When they are about to reach the main entrance, a Whiterun soldier comes out from inside the tower's broken gates and runs down the steps.

"No! Get back! It's still here somewhere! Hroki and Tor just got grabbed when they tried to make a run for it!"

**RAAAAAAAAR!**

The dragon makes act of presence, flying above the retinue and spitting fire over the defenseless soldiers below.

-DRAGON! TAKE COVER!-

-BY TALOS!-

The trio of friends evades the stream of fire, Ranma begans to dust the sooth off him once he lands.

"Goddammit! How are we supposed to bring that overgrown lizard down if he can take us that easily from the air?" Ranma rages while avoiding getting burned.

Mousse just pulls out several weapons from his robes and states. "I'll bring him down."

The blind amazon launches a rain of weapons, which all miss from hitting his intending target and instead start to fall down over our unlucky heroes.

Ranma & Ryoga start screaming around in panic trying not to get skewred by a stray weapon. "OW, OW, OW, OW, OW!"

Ranma snaps at Mousse. "Mousse! Stop that! With that sight of yours worse than the one of a bat, you're the one who's gonna get us kill instead of the Dragon."

The dragon makes another sweep and the trio scrambles to avoid getting roasted.

"Tsk! Then what do you propose we do then!?" Mousse asks as he lands.

"Ryoga and I will take care of grounding him, you just make sure to be ready to keep him from lifting off again afterwards…" Ranma commands without fooling around.

"How are we going to do that Ranma? Our attacks cannot reach him while he's in the air." Ryoga asks in urgency.

"We are gonna have to go all out on this overgrown lizard. We need to use the most powerful ranged attacks we possess withouth caring for collateral damage." States Ranma seriously.

"You mean…"

"Yeah, get ready! Here he comes again…"

The dragon turns around and dives for a third pass. Ranma waits for the flying lizard to be right upon them before signaling to unleash their attacks.

"Now!"

**MOKO TAKASHIBA!**

**SHI SHI HOKODAN!**

Two spheres of pure energy, one yellow as the sun the other black as night, impacted in full inside the Dragon's open mouth. Sending the mythical creature crashing down in a massive cloud of dust and debris.

"Mousse, Now!"

The blind weapon wielder quickly begins to wrap the Dragon's wings in chains to keep him from flying off again, he then pulls out 2 giant chinese swords and lunges at the Dragon while roaring a challenge. Ranma and Ryoga share a look.

"Let's end this!"

"Hai!"

Both then jump towards the dragon yelling their own challenges. The ensuing battle was relatively swift.

"Yay! We killed the dragon! We killed the dragon!" Ranma exclaims, jumping around happily.

Mousse lets out a huff. "I'm actually a little dissapointed. I had thought a dragon would have been a very hard opponent to kill and we didn't even break a sweat bringing him down."

"Yeah, he was pretty weak." Ryoga agrees.

"Well when you are as awesome as me, is hard to find someone worthy enough to fight against you." Ranma states arrogantly.

Ryoga just looks at him dubiously. "Right… What now?"

Ranma assumes a thinking pose for a moment. "You know, I've always wondered what a dragon would taste like."

"Well, now that you mention it. I'm curious too…" Ryoga states.

"Say guys, what do you think about the idea of some tasty roasted Dragon steaks?" Ranma asks to his frenemies.

The corpse of the Dragon starts to desintegrate and a strange aura starts being released from the body. It swirls around the martial artist's trio like a strong wind before being absorbed by their bodies. Of the dragon, only the bones are left.

Ranma just stares at the light show in shock. "WHAT THE FUCK! What the hell is going on!? Why is the corpse of the dragon disintegrating? "

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Our Steaks!" Ryoga Wails.

Ranma becomes alarmed at hearing that. "Damn! You're right Ryoga! There goes our dinner! Ugh, now all we have left is a bunch of bones and a lot of dust. That dragon did kick a lot of dust when he crashed down. Ah… I think is getting inside my nose, I think I'm about to… A… A… A…"

_**FUS!**_

Ranma's sneeze released a concentrated shockwave that rattled the enviroment in its path. Ryoga and Mousse just stared as if it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Bless you… Damn Ranma, all this dust must have really bothered you badly if it made you sneeze that hard." Ryoga comments innocently.

"Yeah, you should go to a doctor in case you're catching a cold or something." Mousse says in askance.

While the 3 idiots are talking between themselves, one of the accompaning guards aproaches and adress them. The rest of the guards start to gather in front of them too…

"I can't believe it! You're… Dragonborn!"

Ranma turns at the guard and inquires with a strange look. "I'm a wut..?"

"In the very oldest tales, back from when there still were dragons in Skyrim, the Dragonborn would slay dragons and steal their power. That's what you 3 did, isn't it? Absorbed that dragon's power? There's one way to find out. Try to Shout… According to the old legends, only the Dragonborn can Shout without training, the way the dragons do…" The guard explains, prompting the pigtailed martial artist to try his newest powers.

"Dragonborn, what are you talking about?" Another guard turns in confusion.

"That's right! My grandfather used to tell stories about the Dragonborn. Those born with the Dragon blood in them. Like old Tiber Septim himself." A third guard states.

"Really? So it was not a sneeze?" Ranma inquires and thinks for a moment. "Hey guys, didn't Hadvar told us something about this dragonborn business?"

"Yes, he did. Something about defeating his enemies using only the power of his voice, it sounded pretty cool now that I think about it." Ryoga replies.

"Maybe, you should try this Shout on your own Ranma: This time withouth the sneezing." Mousse advises.

"…Mmmmph… Wouldn't hurt to try, alright let's try it." Says Ranma after pondering the issue.

The aqua-transexual enters in a stance and prepares to raise the level of his voice for a shout and then…

_**FUS….!**_

"Oh my god, I did it! Did you guys see that!" Ranma exclaims ecstatic.

Ryoga stares amazed. "Yeah, it was awesome! Do it again!"

"Ok, here I go…" Ranma tries to shout again but fails miserably. "Hey, what gives? Why can't I do it again?"

Ryoga brings a finger to his chin in thought. "Maybe you need to wait for the shout to charge after every use, like in videogames where spells have a cooldown time."

"Ah got dammit, that's just lame…" Ranma complains.

"Let me try if I can shout too…" Ryoga says stepping forward.

"Alright, go ahead." Ranma replies standing aside.

Ryoga gets in position.

_**FUS!**_

"Hey, I can shout too! I'm a Dragonborn too." Says Ryoga, marveled at his success.

"Cool!"

"Indeed, maybe I should try too and see if I can do the same…" Says Mousse, preparing to try his luck.

_**FUS!**_

"Wow, the 3 of us can shout spells, how cool is that?" Ranma says delighted, he calls his rivals to him. "Alright let's do it, one more time, the 3 of us together…"

The 3 martial artists formed a line and prepared to shout once more.

"Ready? 1… 2… 3!"

_**FUS!**_

_**FUS!**_

_**FUS!**_

"They release the full strenght of their shouts… Right in front of the last 5 remaing guards of Whiterun and send them flying into the air, only to break their bones once they crashed painfully on the ground."

-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!-

-BY TALOS!-

-WHAT THE OBLIVION!?-

_**CRASH!**_

-ARGH! MY LEGS! THEY'RE BROKEN-

-AH! MY BACK! THEY BROKE MY BACK-

-MY ARMS!-

-MY KNEE!-

Irileth aproaches the trio, pissed beyond measure. "IDIOTS! You injured the last 5 guards we had in the entire city! Now there's no one left to protect Whiterun from attacks! Didn't I specifically tell you, animals! Not to lay a finger on them!" She yells at them, enraged.

Ryoga just rubs the back of his head in embarassment. "Ooops!"

Ranma is unfazed by her anger and just retortes back at her. "Well, to be fair. We didn't even touch them in the first place. It was just a little shout that got out of control; you cannot blame us for that. We didn't even know we could Shout, up until know…"

"Arrrrgh! Just shut up you morons. Now because you injured them, you are going to take them back into the city by yourselves…" The angered Mer woman orders to the trio in a tone that brooked no argument.

Ranma relents under the hateful glare. "Fine, we'll take them back and leave them in the temple. Isn't there were your healers are at, right?"

"No, you cannot take them to the temple. It's filled to the brim with wounded because of all the guards you already beat up. There's no way they have room for even more injured." Irileth states.

"Then where are we supposed to leave them? You cannot simply leave these men withouth receiving medical attention. That would be pretty asshole…_ish_." A frazzled Ranma asks.

Irileth gives him a bemused look. "Just take them to Jovaskarr. The companions should be able to help and treat their wounds."

"Jovaskarr… Jovaskarr…" Says Ranma, thinking.

"The hull of the ship that's upside down, that those companions fellows told us they use as a base of operations…" Mousse supplies, irritated.

"Ah! Yes, now I remember. So you think they'll be able to cure these guys?" Asks Ranma turning towards Irileth.

The Dunmer woman simply blew him off. "Just get moving and stop wasting my time. I have to go and give my report to the Jarl of what has happened in here. Go see him once you drop these soldiers with the companions."

Ranma shrugs and proceeds to grab a guard on each shoulder and turns to his pseudo-friends. "Very well then, let's head back to the city."

"Right…" Ryoga, grabbing his burdens, says before walking in the opposite direction.

Ranma just stares. "… Ryoga… You're going in the wrong direction…"

"Oh… right…" He still is going in the wrong direction…

Ranma keeps staring. "….. You're still going in the wrong direction…"

Ryoga gives a frazzled expression. "Ooops… Sorry…" Yet still he goes in the wrong direction.

Now Ranma becomes utterly vexed. "YOU'RE STILL GOING THE WRONG WAY!"

"Stop bothering me Ranma! I know what I'm doing!" Still wrong…

Ranma facepalms hard and mumbles to himself "_Goddamit! Fucking idiot…" _Out loud he says. "Could someone please hold Ryoga by the hand and lead him back into the city?"

Ryoga blushes in embarassment. "Hey, Knock it off Ranma! I don't need anybody to hold my hand like a child! I can go back by myself… Still going the wrong way.

Ranma finally loses it and gets pissed. "For fuck's sake Ryoga! Look at me! C'mon Ryoga, stop and look at me!"

Ryoga stops and does so, wondering what the pigtailed martial artist wants now.

"Ok Ryoga, you're looking at me… Good…! Now! Do you see that walled city in the distance?" Ranma Points at Whiterun. "Don't take your eyes off it! Just look at it and walk towards it, don't look anywhere else! Just keep your eyes at the city and walk over there…"

"Fine, fine… I get it! Stop treating me like a child…" A bothered Ryoga replies.

Mousse just gives them an idle stare. "We should check the remains of that Dragon. I wager some of his bones could be worth quite a pretty coin."

"Sure, whatever." Ranma replies absentmindedly.

Finally, the group of idiots managed to depart back into Whiterun. Once inside, they set course towards Jovaskarr carrying their injured loads, suddenly the ground began to tremble furiously and a loud sound like a hoarse shout resonated through the sky.

"Wow, what the hell was that!?" Ryoga asks in confusion.

A blush falls on Ranma's face as he replies. "Sorry, I think that was my stomach. I'm a little hungry you see. I think I should take a bite from the food Alvor gave us…"

Ryoga remains in thought for a moment, considering that answer. "Well, it's been a while since we ate. I'm starting to get hungry too…"

Mousse turns at the pigtailed martial artist and chides him for his lack of manners. "Dammit Ranma! You should learn to control your cravings better. That has been the loudest groan that has come out from your stomach up to date… Here take this, let us hope it can silence your stomach a little…"

Mousse pulls out a roasted chicken from his robes and tosses it at Ranma who begins to nibble at it. Barbas just stares oddly at the trio.

"Although I can't help but wonder what kind of thinking made you 3 believe that latest rumble could come out of your belly… I'm afraid you 3 are mistaken, that sound were the Graybeards calling for the Dragonborn (that is all of you, morons) using the power of their T'uum or Voice." The dog explains with a flat stare.

Ranma brings a finger to his chin in thought. "Greybeards… Hey, didn't Hadvar told us about these Greybeards before? Something about being ermits that live in a montain for their whole lives so they can learn how to shout…"

"Yeah, I remember. Why would they be calling for us then?" Ryoga inquires.

"I don't know but maybe it will be worth to see what they want. Hadvar did say they know the secrets of the Shout, maybe we could learn something from them. At least that's what I hope for, if they try to make us live like ermits for the rest of our lives, I'm going to bail." Ranma states.

"I don't really think they would try something like that. This Dragonborn bussiness seems to be some serious stuff around these parts. They probably are the ones who can explain us what being a Dragonborn is all about… Anyway, we can worry about that later. We still have to take these guys to a doctor." Mousee says, pointing at the unconcious guards on their shoulders.

Ranma just nods in agreement. "Yeah, ok. Let's keep moving…"

They began to move once more towards Jovaskarr, passing and ignoring the weird old man shouting in front of the statue of a Viking once more, and going up the steps towards the hall of the companions. There, at the entrance, they found a familiar face who greeted them once he spotted them.

"Ah, Friend Ranma! What brings you and your followers in here? Have you come perhaps to accept our offer and join the ranks of the companions?" Vilkas says the moment he takes notice of the group of ridiculously powerful martial artists.

"Errr… not exactly… Vilkas, was it? No, sorry. We are just here to dump these guys for you and your friends to heal them on behalf of that Irileth chick." Ranma replies, motioning towards the broken and unconcious guards.

Vilkas is mildly surprised at that statement. "There are even more injured guards? I thought all of them were out of action after some unknown assailants led a devastating raid on the city that sent the whole city guard to the healer?"

Ranma sheepishly rubbs the back of his head in embarassment. "Yeah… that was our bad. We are very sorry about that, we didn't mean to. It was all a big misunderstanding, that and the guards at the gates were being jerks so we had to put them down a peg…"

Vilkas is left agog by the revelation. "So it was you who performed such feat! You know I'm not that surprised after having seeing you kill a giant with only one hit. Actually, I think I should be thanking you for that. Since the city has been rendered practically defenseless after you took out the city watch, the Jarl has begun to relay hevily on the companions to protect the city. Which has giving us and unprecedent amount of work and funds for our organization, we will soon be practically swimming in gold."

Ranma just noods at him knowingly. "Glad to be of help. Anyway we have to go already, we must speak with the Jarl and tell him we killed that dragon already and also that it turns out we 3 are Dragonborns."

"You're Dragonborn? So that means you're the ones that the Greybeards were summoning just a moment ago…" Vilkas states in astonishment.

Ranma can't supress the need to boast proudly about his skills. "Yup, that was us. We intend to go look for the Greybeards once we're done reporting to the Jarl. If we learn to control this power of the voice we surely are going to become even more powerful."

A worried expression falls upon Vilkas, as he begins to think about the implications of that statement. '_These 3 are already too powerful and they are going to obtain even more power! I foresee a dark age for Skyrim.'_

"Well, anyway we have to go. See you around Vilkas, we'll have an answer to your request the next time we see you. Bye for now." Says Ranma, dumping the injured guards at the entrance of Jovaskarr before going on his way.

The trio and dog went up the steps towards Dragonreach and entered inside the Jarl's palace. Once there, they found the Jarl's advisor, Lucianus Avenicci waiting for them.

"Good, you're finally here. The Jarl's been waiting for you." He escorted them to the Jarl who was sitting in his throne.

"So what happened at the watchtower? Was the dragon there?" The Jarl inquires as soon as he laid eyes on Ranma.

"Yup, the dragon was there. Had to kill it, it wasn't that hard even though he was being a pain in the ass, he was pretty weak. Also, once we killed it, somehow we ended up consuming his soul. Turns out us 3 are Dragonborn." Ranma explains carefreely.

Balgruuf was utterly perplexed by that statement. "Dragonborn? What do you know about the dragonborn?"

"Only that we can now apparently devour the souls of dragons, which is pretty cool. And we can blow things away with our voices, which is awesome." Says Ranma while his mand starts fantasying about how much ass he's going to kick with his new skills.

"So it's true. The Greybeards really were summoning you." Balgruuf says; bring his hand to his chin in thought.

"So it seems, do you know what they could want with us?" Ranma inquires.

"According to legends, the Dragonborn is said to be uniquely gifted in the ways of the voice. The ability to focus you vital essence into a Thu'um or Shout… If you 3 are truly Dragonborn, they are the ones who can teach you how to use your gift. Didn't you hear their thunderous summoning calling you to High Hrothgar? That was the voice of the Greybeards. This hasn't happened in centuries… not since the times of Tiber Septim himself, mighty Talos as we also know him. Anyway, whatever happened when you killed that Dragon, it revealed something in you and the Greybeards heard it. If they think you 3 Dragonborn, who are we to argue? You 3 better get up to High Hrothgar immediately. There's no refusing the summonings of the Greybeards, it's a tremendous honor." Explains the Jarl, pressuring the trio to meet the old monks as soon as possible.

Ranma is simply left, staring in awe after that explanation. "Ok, that was pretty enlightening, we'll make sure to go and see them as soon as posible. So, is there any reward for having killed that dragon?"

Balgruuf gives him a strange look. "Reward, for you? I don't think so; after all you 3 have done to this city; the destruction of its front gates, putting the entire city guard out of comission and the horrible medical bill that will cost us to nurse them back to health. It is you, who should give something back to the city to pay for your crimes. The cost for paying all of this will be a total of 50,000 septims."

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaat! We don't have that kind of money." Ranma yells back, freaked out at the exorbitant sum.

"Not my problem. You better pay up or I'm going to have to brand you 3 as criminals an everywhere you go you're going to be treated as such." The Jarl warns.

Ranma just grumbles at the unfairness of all. "Man, what an asshole you are and after we saved you all from the dragon…" He thinks for a moment. "Tell you what; I'll make you an offer. We only have like a 100 coins, so we'll give you these alongside this roasted chicken leg and with the promise that we will control ourselves better and avoid hitting any other of your guards in the future… Maybe…. Well it's either that or we beat everybody in the city again until you drop the issue…"

The Jarl just stared at Ranma with a look of disbelief, Mousse who was behind the pig-tailed martial artist raised both of his thumbs at the Jarl. "That is one of the best offers I have ever heard him say. I'll take it if I were you."

Bulgruuf lets a long sigh in defeat. "Fine, I'll accept your offer, just leave my city already withouth beating anyone else." Ranma was about to give him the chicken leg. "Keep that leg, I'm not in the need of it."

"Oh, thanks!" Ranma replies happily and starts munching on the leg. "Still, a reward for killing that dragon would have been nice. At the very least, give us something that we can wave in front of people for bragging rights."

Bulgruuf just rolls his eyes at him. "Fine, I'll give you something if it means you'll shut up… Let's see, I can give you the title of Thane, that would identify you as the protector of Whiterun and it would give you a certain amount of leniency from the guards if you get in trouble. Which I believe it will help in preventing you from keep beating my guards if you start making a ruckus from now on, since we could just ignore it altogether…. Yes, I believe this will be a suitable reward."

Ranma ponders on the offered reward for a minute. "Ok… and what does me having this title of Thane supposed to mean?"

"It means you will be trusted with the protection of the city and aid in her defence against any danger that may threaten her. It also gives you some minor nobiliary rights and status across my lands and it gives you the right to a housecarl, a person who functions as both bodyguard and aide to you. Usually I would also give you the right to own a house inside the city, but since I don't want you anywhere near the city unless strictly necessary. I'll have to deny you that right." The Jarl explains.

"Fine whatever, just get on with it so we can go and see what these Greybeards want." Says Ranma, hurrying things along.

That was enough to set the Jarl in motion; he called to his servants to bring the potential housecarl for the new Thane. A few minutes later, a rather attractive nord woman of auburn hair was brought inside the hall.

"What do you require of me my Jarl?" The armored woman asked politely.

Bulgruuf turned at her with a suspiciously chirpy demeneaor. "Lydia, come forth. I have great news for you, congratulations! You're now the new housecarl of our newest Thane."

Lydia found a little weird the Jarl's uncommon bright mood, but said nothing about it. She swept her gaze over each one of the Jarl's guests, her thoughts varying from each one. She first laid eyes on Mousse, taking notice of his tick bottle-bottom glasses and his ram-rod posture and her mind came up with the words Lame and Moron. She then looked at Ryoga and found him day-dreaming while picking his nose; Yuck! And finally she set eyes upon Ranma, taking notice of his well-built physical fitness and handsome features and thought, Yummy! This one I like. Of course later during a moment of retrospect, she would scold at herself for not having run screaming the hell away from the room.

But at the moment she just asked. "Which one is my new Thane, my Jarl?"

"That would be Ranma over here" Said the Jarl pointing at Ranma. "Ok, that's it you are now the Thane of Whiterun officially, now get out of here."

"Ok, fine we'll go now. We'll go visit those Graybeards and see what they want. See you later." Ranma declares, before motioning to all his companions to follow him.

"I really hope much, much later." Bulgruuf mutters under his breath as the group leaves.

Once they were outside Dragonsreach, Ranma addresed Lydia.

"So, you're our housecarl. What does that means exactly?"

"It means I'm In charge of your protection and to attend all of your needs, from simple house chores like going to the market to buy groceries or deliveries, to full battle and tactical support like proving a distraction to enemies or bailing you out of trouble." The Nord beauty explains.

"Can you carry our stuff?" Ranma asks, having not really listened to her explanation.

Lydia was a little stumped by his dismissal of her duties. "…. Yes… depends what you want to give me, I can hold any item that proves too cumbersome for you. I'm sworn to carry your burdens after all."

Ranma beams a smile at her. "Good because I grow tired of hauling all this Dragon bones and scales around, since Mousse (that blind jerk) didn't wanted to use his hidden weapons technique to help us store them."

Ranma then dumps a lot of Dragon remains on the arms of Lydia, who struggles against the sudden weight.

"Yes, heavy, I know." Ranma points out. "Anyway, thanks for offering to carry that for me, I really apreciatte it. Well, we better get moving, we have to go and see what those Greybeards fellows want. Also we still need to find one of those shrines to the gods of this country, we have some curses on us that we need to get rid of you see, but they don't want us to be near the temple where the shrines are supposedly located because we are the ones who beat all those guards. Anyway, we are in a bit of a hurry, so let's go."

Lydia gives him a mildly horrified stare at hearing that revelation. "You're the ones who beat the guards? And what is that about a curse? Nevermind, if you hadn't noticed there is a shrine of Talos on his statue on the base of these stairs. If you pray in there, I'm sure you'll get rid of your curses."

The trio of morons looked at Lydia with a gobsmacked expression, she didn't know why but she was starting to have the feeling that maybe being Ranma's housecarl was going to be a pain in the ass.

"You mean the statue of the Viking that we have been passing by several times by now has a shrine? You say we could have gotten rid of our curse since we first entered this city. CRAP! If only we had known!" Said Ryoga with a stomped expression before freaking out.

Mousse exhorted them all to move with a sense of urgency. "Quickly idiots! To the statue!"

And with that the 3 martial artist were off, leaving a trace of dust behind them.

"Damn, those 3 can really run when they have too." Barbas commented as he looked at the departing figures.

Lydia turned at the dog and blinked with a stumped expression. "Did you just talked!?"

The voice of Ranma was suddenly heard over the distance. "Magical dog! Don't mind it too much, not important!"

The 3 idiots quickly reached the statue where the old man was screaming his ravings for all to hear. He easily spotted them approaching the shrine and addressed them as result.

"Have you come to hear the word of Talos, my children?" The old priest asked.

It was Ranma who adressed him. "Yo, old man! Is it true that there is a shrine on this statue that can cure curses?"

"But of course, the mighty Talos is always willing to grant his gift unto his most loyal worshipers. But there are those who would silence his truth. But not I! Not Heimskr! His word will be known!" The old priest explained in delight before starting with another crazy rant.

Ryoga interrupted him uncaringly before he could really get into it, excited at the possibility of finally get rid of his curse. "Yeah, Yeah, whatever… Can you teach us the proper rites to pray at this statue? We want to become followers of the mighty Talos."

Heimskr beamed at him, pleased. "Of course! I'm always glad to teach the word of Talos to those eager to walk under his light."

And so, the old man teached the group of ridiculously powerful martial artists the proper rites to pray at the shrine. The 3 morons then procceeded to give their prayers at the shrine of Talos in the hope of finally be able to cure their curses. When they did it, a foreign surge of magic suddenly clashed against their bodies, and when it dissipated the trio simply stood there stupidly for a whole minute without anyone being able to utter a single word.

"So… did it work?" Ryoga said, asking to his companions.

"I don't know. There is only one way to find out…" Ranma supplied.

"How?" The eternal lost boy inquired.

Ranma suddenly grabbed Ryoga by the shirt and tossed him into one of the little moats that were around the base of the stairs towards Dragonsreach.

_**SPLASH!**_

Ryoga came out of to the surface, totally drenched and spitting water. "Pffft! Goddamit, Ranma! What did you do that for!"

Ranma just stares at him in astonishment. "Holy Crap! It worked!"

"Shit! I can't believe it!" Says a mindboggled Mousse.

Ryoga's mind finally catches up to him, and takes notice how he had been drenched in cold water and had still remained human. He stared at his hands incredulously for a few seconds before his face almost split itself because of the giant grin that became etched on it.

"I didn't change… I'm still me…" Ryoga begins to tear up. "Yesssssssssss, I'm cured! I'm never going to be a pig again! Goodbye, P-chan!"

Ranma and Mousse shared a look.

"You're thinking what I'm thinking?" Mousse asks,

Ranma noods. "Ummm… hummm…"

And with that the 2 figthers launched themselves to accompany Ryoga in his wetness.

_**SPLASH!**_

_**SPLASH!**_

Mousse cames out elated and crying tears of joy. "Yessssss! No more duckboy!"

Ranma cames out… As a girl. "Yessssss! No more girl…... Hey! What the fuck!"

Ryoga turnes at him puzzled. "You still transformed into a girl, Ranma."

Ranma snaps at him in anger. "No shit, baconbreath! Man, what gives!? Why I'm not rid of my curse like you did?"

"Maybe Talos knows you've been a naughty boy and decided to punish you for it." Mousse said, mockingly.

Ryoga grins, snidely. "Yeah, Talos must have known how much a bad person you are Ranma and decided not answer your prayers. See Ranma, this is what happens when you don't behave well like us."

Ranma gets pissed at his rivals' words. "Shut up, you two! Don't talk crap, we all know you act just the same or worse than I do. This Talos guy must have it on me! That's the only explanation; he must be refusing to cure my curse just to mess with me. Well I'm not gonna simply stay sitting in here and take it! I'm gonna go and show him what I think of him."

So then Ranma stood out of the water, all pissed as hell and launched him(her?)self at the statue of Talos and started to punch it until he(she?) split it in half. Obviously, the old priest didn't take such violent aggression against his god rather well.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF TALOS ARE YOU DOING!?"

Ranma turned around, still ticked and hoisted the old fruitcake in the air with an arm.

"Shut up! I don't give a fuck what you think. I'm tired of asshole deities messing with my life! So I'm going to mess now with them for a change."

It was in that moment that Barbas and Lydia catched up with the pig tailed martial artist after witnessing his transformation, Ryoga and Mousse being right behind them.

"My Thane! What are you doing!? Why do you strike down the statue of Talos! That's borderline to heresy!" Lydia exclaims in alarm.

Barbas just limits himself to shake his head sideways. "Damn, boy! You were not content with having destroyed the shrine of a Daedric prince, now you want to make enemies of the gods too…? I'm not sure if you are a suicidal moron or the most ballsy son of a bitch that I have ever met."

Ranma turns around and takes a moment to adress his friends. "Oh… it's you guys. Just give me a moment while I finish with this…"

Suddenly, a thunder cames striking down from the sky and impacting in the place of the fallen statue of Talos, stopping everyone cold. In front of the group now stood a tall Nordic warrior decked in full body armor with a horned helmet and sporting a long white beard, in fact he was the spitting image of the man whose statue Ranma had just brought down. The fact that he was shining with a light that could only be described as Divine did nothing to reassure Ranma and his companions. The old man promptly knells in front of the Viking warrior.

"I can't believe what these old eyes of mine are seeing. Holy Talos has decided to grace us with his presence. Oh! Great and almighty Talos who was come down from Sovngarde to answer the prayers of his loyal followers, we are unworthy of being in your divine presence…" Said Heimskrr in awed reverence.

Everybody is left speechless by what the old man has said, Ranma gulps to himself thinking in how much shit he is now. The great Talos, however, does nothing and only stares at the prone form of Heimskrr through half-lidded eyes.

"Who are you?" The legendary Tiber Septim finally asks.

Heimskrr stammers a bit in surprise before answering. "It is me my lord, your most devoted follower, Heimskrr."

Talos cares nothing about him and dismisses him with a wave of his hand. "Yeah, whatever. I'm a little pressed for time and I have some important matters to attend to. So be a good lad and stand aside."

"Of course my lord!" Heimskrr beams at him before he rises up and gets out of the way.

Talos just nods and keeps speaking. "Now, the reason why I'm here is…" He points at Ranma. "You!"

"Me!" Gulps Ranma nervously.

"Yes, you…! Exactly, what in oblivion do you think you're doing by bringing down my statue and destroying my shrine!?" The ninth divine inquires with warning on his voice.

Ranma hesitates for a moment, but them remembers the reason for his displeasure. "Well… You didn't answer my prayer to get rid of my curse!"

"Curse?" Talos said in puzzlement.

"Yes, curse! Don't play dumb." Ranma snaps. "I wanted to stop being able from transforming into a girl at the contact of water." He points at himself and then to his companions. "You answered the prayes of Ryoga and Mousse to stop them from transforming into animals. But you did nothing to cure my own condition, so what gives!?"

Talos eyes suddenly lighted up in realization. "Ah, I see… Well the thing's like this. Those curses of yours are not your regular off-the-mill curses. Unlike normal curses that strike its intended victim with some kind of ailment. Your shapeshifting curses are only able to carry on their effects by linking your soul with an essence fragment of the creature you'll be forced to transform into. In short you have the soul of another living being bound to your own."

Ranma is mildly astonished at that but does not let it to make him lose sight of his objective. "Ok, that's a shocker. But what it has to do with you not answering my prayers."

"Well you see, in order for me to cure all of you from your curses. I had to destroy the foreing essences bonded to your souls. In your friends' cases being the souls of a pig and a duck, but in your case being the soul of a young woman. Now, I don't care much about destroying the souls of a pair of animals, but destroying the soul of a young girl and a sexy one at that. Well, that's where I draw the line." Talos stated with emphasis.

Ryoga just tilts his head to a side with an air-headed expression. "How come?"

"Well, I'm one of the nine divines, the main gods of Tamriel you see. And we are supposed to be the good, benevolent gods that every person can approach too when in need of guidance. So it dosen't look very nice if I suddenly start going around destroying the souls of young women since that's not something a good, benevolent god should be doing in the first place." The Divine explains.

Mousse ponders in his words. "Ah, I see your point. It has a lot of sense actually, when you think about it…"

Talos nods knowingly. "Yup, and also because that little ghostly girl is pretty hot. I mean I used to have temples filled with lots of sexy ladies acting as priestesses for me before these Thalmor assholes banned my religion! I had everywhere to choose from, from all races and sizes, from petite and cute to bomb-shells bimbos. But now in these harsh times where my worship has decayed dramatically, all I get is… well…" He pointed at the old fruitcake Heimskrr, who is just standing at a side staring up at Talos with a look that was downright creepy and disgusting. Ranma and his pals felt a cold chill run down their spines.

"Yes, I see what you mean…" Ranma mentions. "So, does that mean I will never be able to get rid of my curse!" He exclaims in panic. "Is there no other way, anything that could be done!"

Talos muses in search of an answer for a moment. "…mmmph… There is something… A ritual can be performed to draw the girl's soul fragment out of you; it will then drag the rest of her essence across aetherium and oblivion and place her whole soul inside a soul gem. But you'll need to drink a specific potion which you'll have to brew yourself, a Grand Soul Gem, and you'll also need to go to a sacred place located on some ruins to perform the ritual."

"That doesn't sound too bad." Ranma mentions.

"You'll have to jump from the end of a waterway that's at the top of the ruins which are located at the edge of a cliff, all the way down to a sacred pond at the bottom." Says Talos with a deadpan look.

Ranma just blinks. "Ok… That doesn't really sound very nice. But if it will help me to get rid of my curse then I'll do it. It's not like I haven't done stupid and risky things in the past…"

"Very well, I'll give you the recipe for the potion and I'll mark the location of the ruins in your map. It's at the southeast of Markath. I can't recall the ruin's name right now, but my directions should be enough for you to find it." Talos declares doing exactly as he had said.

"Thanks! Say if you cannot cure me of my curse, then could you at least turn me back into a man?" A brief magical lights surges and Ranma is back being a man. "Wow man Thanks!" He then assumes a sheepish and rubs the back of his head. "Ahem… Anyway, I hope you can forgive me for breaking your statue and stuff… If I manage to get rid of my curse I promise you I will become your devote follower and spread your religion whenever I go." He promised.

Talos just waved at him in dismissal. "Don't mind about that, it was just a simple misunderstanding." Inside he thought '-_Yeah right, as if I would let you off the hook that easily. I can't wait to see this fool's face when I tell him it was not necessary to jump from the top of the cliff, and only to dip yourself in the pond to complete the ritual. That is going to be so funny_-' "Anyway my children, I need to go now. Being a god is a busy job, you know. So keep out of trouble and remember to pray to me when in need of guidance."

And with that Talos disapeared in a burst of magic, with Heimskrr in the backround going all mental in his singing of praises at the mighty Talos.

"Man… That's one cool god; he is now the favorite deity in my books." Ranma stated honestly.

"Mine too!" Ryoga agreed.

"Yeah, whatever. Where to, now?" Said Mousse wishing to get things back on track.

Ranma thinks for a moment. "We must go and look for those Graybeards. Supposedly we must escalate a mountain to reach them, but where is that mountain in the first place? There are a lot of mountains in this country, is going to be a pain to find the one we are looking for."

Lydia coughs in her hand to draw their attention. "Is that one over there my Thane." She points at the Throath of the world. The mountain that clearly is being seen looming over Whiterun.

Ranma blinks. "Oh… Ok, that solves it then. There's our new destination."

"Not to pop your bubble or anything, but how do you intend to reach the top of that mountain?" Barbas inquires.

"By walking and climbing with my own hands if I have too, of course." Ranma simply states.

Barbas just lets out a tired sigh. "Oblivion be damned, I was afraid you were going to say that. Listen, climbing the throath of the world is no easy task. First we must reach the village of Ivarstead, which is pretty far away from here, before we can begin climbing the mountain. I suggest we find other means of transportation, like paying a carriage or buying some horses."

Ranma takes a moment to think. "Ok that sounds like a good idea. We should go find the stables then, anyone knows where they are?"

Lydia steps forward to answer. "It'd be my pleasure to show you the way my Thane."

And so Lydia led the group towards the stables, where they found a young Nord attending the horses in there. Ranma approached him and asked. "Yo! Do you have horses in here for sale?"

The young man turned at him from his work. "Ah, greetings travelers. Yes, currently we only have this one here" He motioned towards the horse currently under his care. "Available for sale."

Ranma peers around the stables for a bit, taking notice of the rest of the equines inside the place. "What about the rest of them? We are 4 people and a dog; we cannot travel around with only one horse."

The young nord just shakes his head at him in negation. "Sorry, but those horses are not ours, they belong to other people. We are just taking care of them while their owners are busy carrying their bussinesses in Whiterun."

"I see… Well then, how much for this horse then?" Said Ranma, turning back towards the offered transport beast.

"That'd be a 1000 septims."

Ranma's mood turns dejected at hearing that sum. "Dammit! We don't have that much money… How about if I give you this chicken bone and you let us ride your horse."

The Nord gets irked at Ranma's antics. "Stop wasting my time! If you have no money to buy horses, then don't distract me from my work."

With that the young nord walks away from the group.

"How rude! And I was just trying to find a good offer that suited our scarce financial reserves. No need to go all medieval about that!" Ranma complains.

"I bet that's just because your haggling skills suck ass, Ranma." Mousse says in a deadpan tone.

"Shut up, Mousse! At least I try to find a way to help our group despite my shortcomings. Unlike you who just simply stands at the side doing nothing, you damn usseless duck."

"Ha! You can't hold those insults over my head anymore Ranma. I have already gotten rid of my curse, there is no duck anymore. Unlike you who still keep turning into a girl at the contact of water, you sissy!"

Ranma could only growl in impotent rage, knowing his rival was right. "Grrrrrr…."

Ryoga ignores their antics and asks "So… What are we going to do now?"

Ranma snaps out of it and replies. "Well, as my old man used to say. Why buy something when you can steal it…"

And so Ranma suddenly jumps on top of a horse and spurrs him to run the hell away from whiterun. Ryoga followed suit grabbing another, taking Barbas with him. And Mousse took a third one dragging a protesting Lydia along the way. The group was immediately burning track with the poor attendant of the stables yelling at them and calling for help.

" YEEEHHAAAAAW! Move it horsie, move it! Run like the wind, let us go and find those Greybeards!" Says Ranma while spurring the horse and leaving only a trail of dust behind him.

* * *

><p><em>Well that's it for now, as I had said, expect sporadic updates for this story, around every other month or so. It depends how fast the writting of this story progresses. Anyhow, I just wanted to have the re-upload of this story done as I have to move on to other things. Have much work to do, too much on my plate right now.<em>


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